This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things
by sailorraven34
Summary: Some things in life take time to figure out. Others take someone getting kidnapped for three months, tortured, sent to space and returning to find out that he's a father. He really just couldn't catch a break, could he? T for language and mild implications.
1. Chapter 1

**All right, here we go. The beginning of this is sort of one-shotty bits spanning the first three books. Parts of this may be recycled from chapters 6-10 of AFLS.**

Nero yawned heavily, reaching up to rub his eyes. He knew he really should be at home resting after the Plant Monster disaster yesterday, but his stubbornness wouldn't allow him to. He reached unconsciously for his mug of coffee, only to discover it wasn't there.

"Looking for this?"

He glanced up to see Raven leaning onto his desk, a steaming mug of coffee in one hand. She raised an eyebrow, her expression perfectly blank.

"Would that, by any chance, be for me?" he asked.

"It's a bribe from the staff to get you to go back to the infirmary. I was nominated as the person with the best chance of convincing you to return." she informed him.

"They said I could go." he said, going back to his laptop.

"They said _maybe_ you could go, if and only if you went back to your rooms and rested for a few days. That doesn't look like resting."

"Just hand over the coffee." he said, ignoring her.

"You do realize you don't be able to continue like this for much longer. You aren't getting any younger and your… trouble with following doctor's orders isn't helping."

"Coffee cures all ailments, even ones of the soul." Nero said offhandedly.

She sat directly in front of him and slowly drank from the mug as he watched silently.

"Mm…" coaxed Raven, raising one eyebrow. "You know, you can have as much of this as you want if you _go home and rest._"

"How exactly would that work? Would you make it for me?"

"If it got you in bed, yes."

"I had no idea you felt that way."

Smirking, she took another sip of the coffee.

"Are you going to drink all of that?"

"Max…" she said in her _what-_are-_we-going-to-do-with-you_ voice.

He stared back at her, his face serious but his eyes twinkling. She set the mug down on his desk. "I'll be back." she promised, before standing up to go.

He raised an eyebrow and as she left the room took a large, loud sip.

###

"He was hitting on you." Nero said defensively as they sat outside the bus station.

Raven silently raised an eyebrow as the popped another chip into her mouth.

"He _was." _Nero repeated. He crossed his arms and leaned forward to keep out the bitter November chill. "Are those still warm?" he added longingly a second later.

She nodded.

"Can I have one?" he asked.

"No." Raven said.

Nero sighed as he watched her eat more chips (slowly, in tiny bites, licking the salt of her fingers between each piece just to taunt him). "But he was hitting on you!"

"Yes, he was." Raven said calmly. "It doesn't matter, though- we were in a public place; nothing was going to happen."

"You don't know that!" Nero was angry at Raven for not understanding, and angry at himself for being angry. He kicked angrily at a pigeon. "I couldn't just sit there and watch him ogle you!"

Raven was quiet for a long moment.

"I can take care of myself." she told him finally. "I appreciate that you care for my well-being, but…."

"I know." Nero sighed. "It just bothers me. A lot."

"That goes without saying." Raven said.

They sat in silence for a moment.

"That was a nice uppercut, though. Have you been practicing?"

"Yes, actually." Nero said with no small amount of pride.

###

He yawned and rolled over, picking up the phone. "Yes? What's wrong?"

"The medallion." To a casual observer Raven would have sounded just fine, but the slight strengthening of her accent told Nero she was in a panic. "I can't find it."

He swore under his breath. "All right. I'll be right there."

When he did reach her room, he just stared for a second. Raven was dangling half-off the bed, her t-shirt pooling around her pale breasts. She had the medallion draped over one hand and was staring up at it, transfixed.

He coughed. She pulled herself up and fixed her shirt. "I found it." she said, giving the chain a shake.

"Please be more careful, I nearly had a heart attack." As he crossed the room and came to take a seat on her desk chair, it occurred to him how blank her room was. White walls, white ceiling, white carpet, white furniture that consisted only of a bed and desk… it was more like a prison cell then a place to relax. Then again, Raven had never really been one for relaxing.

"I'm sorry, I was just rattled." Raven said. She ran her fingers through her hair. "You said it was important."

"It is." he told her. "Very."

She chewed thoughtfully on her lip. "That's an interesting tactic, giving a woman something that belonged to your ex-girlfriend as a gift."

"I never said she was my ex-girlfriend."

"You didn't have to." Raven closed her eyes with a sigh. "It's written all over your face."

"She wasn't even my ex-girlfriend. She was just…" Nero froze mid-sentence. He watched, transfixed, as a massive hairy spider casually parachuted down from the ceiling on a single gossamer strand, its legs inches from Raven's face.

"Is something the ma-" Raven started.

"Don'topenyoureyesanddon'tmove." Nero hissed, rushing for a tissue. He crept towards the bed as though he was sneaking up on an armed assailant.

"Okay." Raven said, her expression slightly confused.

The spider paused its descent. It suddenly seemed to Nero as though the devilish beast was staring straight into his soul with all eight of its squinty little eyes. He stared it down, determined. No eight-legged arachnid could stand a chance against the might of the G.L.O.V.E. ruling council.

The spider quivered. Afraid it might retreat back into the dark recesses of the ventilation system (where he was most certainly _not_ going), Nero pounced. Unfortunately, he failed utterly in smushing the spider but somehow managed to nearly squash his colleague.

Somewhere beneath his chest came a somewhat muffled "Could you please move?" in a rather conversational tone despite their current situation.

Their arachnidan observer seemed to silently say "Nice job, there." Nero glared before reaching out with his tissue-protected hand to finally crush it.

"I'm sorry about that." he said, sitting up. This didn't particularly help matters as he was now on his knees, straddling Raven around the waist. He brandished the tissue. "There was a spider…"

"Is it dead now?" Raven asked.

"Yes…"

She nodded. "That's good."

They stared at each other for a good minute, neither party particularly inclined to move. Both of them were internally daring the other to say the words that would certainly never come from _their _mouth.

"Is that a new kind of shampoo?" wondered Nero aloud. "It smells different."

"I think it's… green tea and cucumber scented." Raven said, giving her hair a sniff.

"I like it." Nero said.

She smiled. His hands were resting just on top of her hip bones, and she liked them there.

"Do you ever have nightmares?" he asked, his face dipping closer to hers.

"All the time." she responded softly, resisting the urge to reach up and touch it. _But I learned how to suffer in silence a very long time ago._

There was a glaringly obvious next step, but what happened instead was that Nero shifted off her and stood beside her bed. "Have a nice time in Tokyo." he told her.

"You had better get some rest." Raven called as he headed towards the door. "I have a feeling this isn't going to go as planned."

###

He didn't notice her come up. He was staring at the official report of Cypher's death, running through the facts over and over in his mind.

"Something the matter?" Raven asked, setting a steaming cup of coffee before him.

"Nothing I can pin down. I just have this feeling that we're missing something. A very large something."

She leaned over his shoulder to glance down at the document. "Is this why you're keeping him alive?"

"I think I have to." Nero said. "He has to know more then he's telling. Or maybe someone else does and we can use him as a trade for information…"

He rubbed the bridge of his nose in exhaustion.

"Would you like me to try persuading him?"

"Not quite yet. Give it another few week and then we'll see."

She nodded, her expression hesitant.

"Now you're the one with the problem." he told her with a slight smile.

She nodded, sitting down on the edge of his desk. "It's about Diabolous. I've been reviewing and reviewing the files pertaining to his death but I just can't stop thinking that something isn't right."

"Are you sure you aren't looking for a reason to stop blaming yourself for what happened?" Nero asked, looking up for the first time.

"No." Raven said. "I showed some of it to Chief Leon, and he agreed with me. Do you think… maybe…?"

Nero was quiet for a second.

"I wish Diabolous was still alive as much as you do." he said. "But even if he is, he obviously doesn't want to be found, and I think we should honor his wishes."

"I suppose you're right." Raven said, turning to go.

"Let me know if you do find something, okay?" he asked, surprising even himself.

###

Raven flicked up the collar of her trench coat, huddling down against the rain. "I still do _not_ understand how this happened." she said for the umpteenth time.

"It wasn't my fault." Nero kicked at the gravel surrounding the rain-soaked bench. Didn't they have the decency to build shelters over bus stops anymore? "You should have checked the car for explosives."

"I _did._ Twice." Raven frowned. "I think it was just the car."

"Why?" Nero asked. "It wasn't as though there was anything special about it."

"Sometimes these things just happen." Raven said briskly. "Do you want my gloves?" she added, watching as he rubbed his hands together to keep them wamr.

"Yes." Nero said without thinking. "I mean… no."

"I think you're forgetting where I'm from, Max. I'll be fine without. I have pockets."

"I'll just take one, then."

"Stop trying to be a gentleman. It doesn't suit you." She tossed the gloves into his lap. He put them on obediently. "How long until the bus comes?"

"I would know, if you hadn't dropped my Blackbox into a puddle."

"While I was dragging you from a burning car." Raven said with a hint of contempt.

"True."

They lapsed into familiar, comfortable silence. Nero yawned.

"Tired?"

"I was up all night."

"With whom?"

"My computer, Natalya. I was grading papers. Get your head out of the gutter."

"I never said anything about your activities. You came to that conclusion all on your own." She tilted her head back to stare at the sky. "Does it always rain like this here?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Nero said. "Where'd you get that hat?"

"Do you want the hat too?"

"No! I was just… actually, yes please."

She relinquished the hat. "Gift exchange this Christmas. It was from Colonial Francisco. Also, your hair is sticking straight up."

He flattened it, glancing at her in annoyance.

"It's very Otto-esque." Raven said, her mouth twitching into a half-smile.

"Please tell me that's not a thing."

"What do you mean, a thing?"

"A thing that people say. You know. Like 'it's raining cats and dogs'."

"It's raining obtuse African elephants." She squeezed the rain water from her hair distastefully. "And no, it's not a 'thing'."

"Good."

"It's sticking up again."

Nero cursed.

"Perhaps the rain washed all the product out."

"I don't use _product._" Nero huffed.

Raven said something under her breath.

"Sorry?"

"What? Nothing."

He shivered, crossing his arms over his chest. Raven glanced at him. "Do you want my scarf?"

"That would be lovely."

She gently tucked it around his neck. "Your problem is that H.I.V.E. is so _warm._" she said

"Warm? It's just regular room temperature."

Raven made the face that meant she disagreed with him, but knew arguing was pointless. "Next time, bring a coat. And _no_, you can't have mine."

Nero cursed under his breath and shivered pointedly, hoping to gain more sympathy from the world's deadliest assassin.

"That's not going to work." Raven said, not even looking at him.

He said a swear word in his head. He really was cold. He glanced over at Raven. She had the longest eyelashes. How was that even possible? Nero found himself leaning towards her. She didn't seem to notice, staring down at the bloody cut on her knee instead. Both of them had suffered minor injuries when the car exploded, but Raven had definitely gotten the worst end of the deal.

He could suddenly hear his heart pounding. What was this? His cheeks grew hot. Oh, jeez. It was this obnoxious attraction thing again. He shook his head. Lately he couldn't keep himself away from Natalya. He tried to justify it as the simple instinct to continue his species. Raven was young and beautiful-

Oh god, he was going to kiss her. He was going to kiss her. She wasn't even paying attention-

Their faces were inches apart when he sneezed all over her.

Raven shot him a look. "Thank you."

"Sorry." He sneezed again.

Raven sighed and leaned down to touch his forehead. Her mouth tightened. "Are you feeling all right?"

"Freezing." Nero said.

"You're feverish." Raven said. "I'll give you my coat."

He nodded, and they quickly traded coats. Raven looked nervous. "Let me know if you feel dizzy or nauseous." She said. Then she stood. "The bus is here. Let's get going."

###

He woke in a haze in an unfamiliar bedroom. Raven was curled like a cat at the foot of his bed sipping a glass of wine and reading a magazine.

"Good afternoon." she said briskly. "I've made tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, if you feel up to eating."

"That would be wonderful." he said, suddenly famished.

He ate. Raven watched him calmly. It might have freaked out the average person, but he had gotten used to her occasionally strange behavior over time.

"Did you make this?" he asked. "Because it's delicious."

"Thank you." she said, stretching out next to him. "I've gotten us tickets on a train to London, so we should be able to make your meeting with Gregori with time to spare. I've also taken the liberty of purchasing some warmer clothes for tomorrow."

"What _would_ I do without you?" he teased.

"Whatever it is bachelors do, exactly."

"Are you saying you're my girlfriend?"

"More like your mother." she told him. There was a pause. "I think the heating in this place is broken. Do you might if I-"

"No, not at all."

Raven slid under the covers and leaned up against the pillows. Her foot curled carefully over his, and he glanced over at her with a smile. She returned it.

"The owner thinks we're on our honeymoon." she murmured.

"So we should be jumping up and down on the bed?"

"Maybe later. Right now, I'm just too tired."

"Are you sure about that?" Nero teased.

Raven's face went serious. "Are you asking?"

He tried to pass it off with a laugh, but it came off more as nervous. "No. Of course not. Why would I- no."

Raven stood up. "I'm going to take a shower." she said, her cheeks pinking.

Nero listened as he heard Raven's clothes hit the backroom floor and the sound of running water. Then he stood up.

Raven jumped a little as he pushed aside the shower curtain. "Max." she said, crossing her arms over her breasts. "What the hell are you-"

He kissed her, his hands automatically finding the same places as before. Raven stretched up onto her tip-toes to touch his jaw.

"I'm going to get your cold." she whispered.

"Do you care?" Nero asked, smiling.

"Not one bit." Raven said.

###

The next day she cared, because he was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Long chapter… also, I kept slipping into present tense while writing this, so be wary of tense errors. **

She hauled herself up out of the river Thames, wincing at the pain from her leg. She stood, shaking, for a few seconds before she realized that someone was watching her- a disheveled looking man standing a few feet away. She stared back and he took a step in the opposite direction.

He died quickly- she couldn't afford any witnesses, not at this stage in the game- and his body went into the river. She fastened his coat tightly around herself. All she really wanted to do was find the nearest coffee shop, curl up in a squishy armchair and drink peppermint mochas until her head stopped pounding from the combination of stress, injury and lack of sleep the night before. Instead she walked quickly back into the maze of streets.

This coat smelled _disgusting._

In four separate shops she purchased a blouse, skirt, underwear and a fresh coat, but she didn't have enough money on her for a fresh pair of boots (hers were, of course, utterly ruined. Just her luck.) She ducked into the bathroom of the restaurant next door (after ordering coffee, of course) and changed, drying her hair with the hand-dryer. As she sat at the cracked leather booth by the window, she sipped the coffee and thought.

She needed to prioritize. First and foremost there was the matter of a place to-

OH GOD SHE SLEPT WITH MAX.

A LOT.

AND LIKED IT.

A LOT.

AND NOW IT WAS ALL SHE COULD THINK ABOUT AND THOSE _EYES_ WHY DID HE HAVE TO HAVE SUCH PRETTY EYES AND DO SUCH STUPID ENDEARING THINGS…?

She needed a place to stay. She had money, but renting an apartment or even getting a hotel room would be like a huge red flag to her pursuers. She didn't exactly cherish the day of being temporarily homeless, but that seemed to be the way things were going.

She couldn't go back to the hotel room they had stayed in last night, that was for sure. She had to stay in the city- they would assume that her first move would be to get as far away as possible immediately. Luckily, she had a temporary bolt-hole she could hide in for a few days not even Nero knew about.

She took the train, feeling strangely isolated amid the crush of civilians. It was a strange feeling, almost… loneliness. But she didn't get lonely. Not ever. That had been banished a very, very long time ago...

She unlocked the door and stepped into the small room, with its dismal concrete walls and floors. Raven quickly cleaned and bandaged the gunshot wound on her thigh then crossed the room to the computer.

And hesitated.

Something just didn't feel right. Nero didn't exactly tell her everything when it came to the conspiracy theories that were always rattling around in his head- some shit about keeping her safe. But she was observant enough to know that for whatever reason, he didn't entirely trust G.L.O.V.E. at this point. Which meant that she didn't entirely trust G.L.O.V.E. either.

Of course there had to be complications. She sat down on the bed with a sigh. How was she supposed to get Max all by herself? She didn't even know who had taken him-

The brand-new disposable cell phone she'd picked up for just-in-case rang. Like an idiot, she picked up.

"Hello?" she asked, going for her katanas.

"Hello, Raven." said a voice she wasn't supposed to hear ever again.

###

"Any theories on who took Max?" she asked as they strolled down the corridor of the Megalodon. (Of course Darkdoom had built a submarine. The move was just so undeniably _him_ that it made her smile, nostalgic for something she couldn't quite put her finger on.)

"Is it just me, or do you seem a little more... invested then usual?" he asked with a half-smile.

"He's probably facing starvation and torture. Of course I'm invested." she retorted.

"Or did the two of you finally hook up?"

"That wouldn't be very professional of us." she said, eying him.

"Come on, the two of you have been suffocating in sexual tension for years. You do that cute thing with your feet, you eat off each other's forks and you play nurse whenever the other person is sick or wounded… you're basically dating without realizing it."

"I haven't the slightest idea of what you're talking about." Raven informed him.

"Neither do I." They rounded the corner. "Well, this will be your room. It's a bit basic, but I'm sure you can add some frills and lace and feel right at home."

"Right." She sat down on the bed.

"I'll be in the plotting room if you want to talk." Darkdoom said, and then he left her.

She collapsed, curling onto her side like a wilted flower.

_Maybe this is all a dream. Maybe if I open my eyes right now, Max will be right there in front of me…_

Nope.

She shed her clothes and went to go and take a long, warm bath. Maybe, if she relaxed, she could forget, if only for a second.

###

The next few weeks were filled with trawling through file after file after file. Darkdoom had explained to Raven what he knew of the Overlord Protocol/Cypher/Nero/Number One/Renaissance Initiative debacle, which certainly cleared up a few things. Now she was glad to be 'dead'. Nero mourning her for a few months was certainly better than public execution at the hands of the Reapers. And this was G.L.O.V.E., after all- no one settled for nice, humane headshot when executing a traitor.

"Why can't Number One just kidnap Nero as himself, though?" Raven asked for the third time as she pulled up the next long report. "It's not as though he has very many allies… certainly no one would stand up against Number One to get him back if Number One labeled him as a traitor, especially after what just happened to Leonov."

"He's survived as long as he has by holing up in his volcano. Number One needed to grab him when he'd be vulnerable, and that meant doing it in public." Darkdoom replied.

"Exactly! Everyone _knows_ Nero was taken and a lot of people have probably come to the conclusion that it was him. Why not just come out and say it?"

"He's probably not ready to make his move yet. The attack has everyone on high alert- no one knows who's behind it-"

"Except the government."

"We don't know that, Natalya, and if they do they aren't sharing. Which makes everybody else even more nervous. Number One is waiting until this all quiets down."

"How long is that going to take? It's been almost a month." Raven said in frustration. "Let me go to H.I.V.E. I've got the password to Nero's personal computer. We can access his files, maybe use them as barter to get him back-"

"You've been doing this long enough to know deals like those never work out."

"They know me well enough that it will. _Please._"

"We have to wait until Number One forces our hand. Acting prematurely will do nothing, as will you running yourself into the ground. When was the last time you ate? Or drank something other then coffee."

"I'll go and get something from the kitchen." Raven said, annoyance strengthening her accent. "But don't think this conversation is over…"

###

She lay on her back and stared up at the ceiling, exhausted yet unable to sleep. She figured she must have caught something after her little dunk in the Thames, because fatigue seemed to have infested every inch of her being and no matter how many alarms she slept through, it wouldn't go away.

Raven wasn't enjoying working with Darkdoom. She was never really quite sure how to act around the man. He was friendly enough, and a lot like Nero, but then there was the infinite paradox of him being almost-but-not-quite her boss. He hadn't seen the little girl beneath the glass shell. He hadn't held her hand through the nightmares and the painful operations to keep her heart going. He hadn't kissed her so warmly she had felt the last of the ice left over from indefinite isolation in a palace of snow and glass sizzle and melt into a puddle.

She rolled onto her stomach, but her chest ached in protest so badly she sat up. She pressed her forehead to her knees. There was obviously something very wrong with other, but she couldn't yet isolate what it was and that bothered her. The nature of her work had slowly transformed her into a bit of a control freak, and the thought of an unknown variable had her stomach tied up in knots. Not that it wasn't already, with the stress of everything going on.

"Natalya?"

She opened her eyes. "Yes?"

"You need to come and see this." Darkdoom told her. He was standing in her doorway, slightly out of breath from running to her room.

"What is it?" she demanded.

"We just found out who took Max…"

###

Directly after the video's publication, she started clamoring for Malpense's retrieval. Darkdoom kept going on about Deepcore, and despite her best explanations of his techno-voodoo, she still couldn't convince him that the rewards outweighed the potential risks.

Then they got the memo about the Countessa.

Raven looked over at Darkdoom, eyes triumphant. He sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"Ready whenever you are, captain." she said with only a hint of the sarcasm she wanted to put into that line.

"Go and see Sanderson, you'll need a camouflage suit." he told her. "We'll be there in four hours, tops."

She walked a little faster than usual down to the Tech section of the submarine, her version of skipping through the halls with joy. In her head, having Malpense on their side was only a hop, skip and a jump away from being reunited with Max.

_Max._

What was going to happen, when she saw him again? The morning afterwards, he'd acted like they'd only shared the bed like always, and she'd been happy to follow his lead. But at the same time, how long could she keep denying what had happened?

Forever, that was how long. Her powers of denial were matched only by her powers of glaring.

###

Malpense caught her throwing up on the Shroud. She had already been angry with him for jeopardizing the mission with his insistence that they bring his little friends along. While it was nice to have Fanchu by her side, Trinity was a wild card and Brand… Brand was just a mousy little computer geek with no real use beyond a desk. At least he hadn't made her bring the fat one along as well. If he'd tried to pull that… well, she wouldn't be held accountable for her actions. Or fantasies.

He silently held out a glass of water as she sat up, face sweaty. She accepted it, also wordless.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"I'd appreciate it if you kept this to yourself." she told him.

"Are you _pregnant_?" Malpense blurted.

She stared at him. Shit. Shit shit _shit._

"Of course not." she told him. "I'm just not feeling particularly well."

He was right, of course. God. How did a thirteen-year-old boy see in a matter of seconds what she's been staring in the face for three months? Everything fit. _Everything._

It took all her professionalism to walk back into the cockpit as though nothing was wrong, Malpense bobbing along behind her like a demented albino balloon.

"Uh… Raven… I think we may have a problem." he said quietly.

"Really?" No shit, Sherlock. But how did he know he was right? She thought she'd come off as pretty cool and calm and collected-

"Um… yeah." He pointed to the fuel gauge and she almost laughed in relief. That, at least, she could deal with.

"You worry too much." she said, letting a grin slip across her face.

"Under the circumstances I think I worry just the right amount." He was kind of adorable when panicking. Like a lost puppy, floundering in a puddle. Muddily.

She shook herself out of her thoughts and hit a button on the control panel. "This is Raven to _Megalodon,_ repeat, Raven to _Megalodon,_ we are on final approach."

"We have you on scope, Raven. Breaching in ten… nine…"

Malpense's face as he caught the first glimpse of Darkdoom's creation was priceless. He only let the kid-in-a-candy-store look show for a split second before reforming to a look of polite interest, but she had already seen it.

"You and the others get on board." Raven said. "I have a couple of things to take care of."

Malpense stared blankly at the submarine for a few seconds. "You sure know how to travel." he whispered.

Raven almost snorted. She would never drive something as flashy as a submarine. "Oh, she's not mine, but I know that the owner is eager to meet you."

Malpense nodded and then left. She leaned against the wall and unzipped her jumpsuit until her stomach was exposed. She pressed her palm against her abdomen, but felt nothing. Shouldn't there be… a flutter? Or a bump? Or at least _something_ to indicate that her life had just been shattered into a million pieces?

_Calm down._ she told herself as the loading ramp closed behind her. _He's just a kid. There's no way he's right._

"One second." she said, and retrieved the detonation unit from her belt. She pressed it, and they all stared like idiots as the Shroud hit the ocean.

"Well, that's that." she informed them. "You're all dead."

"How comforting." Malpense laughed.

"I, for one, am rather tired of being dead." Wing said calmly.

"That makes two of us." she lied. She loved being dead. Being dead meant she didn't have to do people, which was always a hundred times easier. "Come on, we need to go before the Contessa's hounds get here."

_And I need to go take a test._

She half-listened distractedly as Sanders gave his little spiel and they entered the briefing room.

"I think I speak for everyone when I say that my curiosity is beginning to outweigh my patience." Wing was looking directly at her, one eyebrow raised.

Oh, for crying out loud. How difficult could it be to sit still and shut up? When she was a child-

"Can you at least tell us what happened to you and Nero?" Malpense asked.

Nero… Nero was… the _father._ She frowned at the thought. Even from what little she had seen of his interactions with small children, she could tell he wasn't particularly enamored with them.

Oh, right. They had asked her a question.

"It was my fault." she said quietly. "I let my guard down and we walked straight into a trap. I'm sure you know the rest: Nero was captured and I was lucky to escape with my life. It was a disaster."

And it was turning into an even bigger one.

Laura started to reassure her (not that she was reassured in the slightest.) but was interrupted by Darkdoom's dramatic entrance (that man honestly should consider a career in theater).

She sat patiently while Darkdoom explained what was going on, even though by the end of it she was about ready to flip the table over and break it over his stupid bald head. Raven virtually ran all the way out of the room to the bathroom, where she ripped through the bottles and boxes in the cabinet beneath the sink until she found what she was looking for.

Why the hell Darkdoom even _had_ a pregnancy test on board his floating-and-sinking fortress of Doom was completely beyond her, but she really, really didn't care. She locked the door behind her and quickly followed the directions on the box.

She didn't remember her own mother. There were a handful of vague, disjointed scenes, half-faded and long forgotten among her memories, but those were hard to focus on, just snatches. Once upon a time, someone set her on their lap and braided her hair. Once upon a time, she had a stuffed giraffe. Once upon a time, somebody tucked her in for the night, kissed her chubby cheeks and told her they loved her, and it wasn't a lie.

When she was small, she fell backwards off a playground swing and landed in the woodchips with the wind knocked out of her. Looking at the test felt a bit like that.

When she was small, she sat on a rooftop and watched a bullet enter the chest of her best friend, knowing that she could do nothing. Looking at the test felt a whole lot more like that.

She felt her mind shut down for a few seconds, trying to comprehend. _I'm a mother. I'm a mother._ The thought just didn't compute. This couldn't be happening. Not to her. She was a good girl, she killed them like they told her too and she trained until her fingers bled and her limbs burned and she didn't talk back and-

She realized she had begun to rock back and forth and stood abruptly. Her face in the mirror was pale and frightened.

_My little one is fatherless._

###

"She's still alive." Nero said quietly, "and I'm smiling because that means you're a dead man."

Of course she was alive. Of course. How could he have ever doubted, even for a second? His angel was loose on the world once again and soon he would be, too.

"And so are you if you don't tell me where to find her!" Trent yelled, all of his composure evaporating in an instant.

"You'll get nothing from me." Nero told him. Now he couldn't keep this stupid grin off his face. He really was going to make it out of this nightmare, probably sooner than later. "But I wouldn't worry about finding Raven. She'll find you."

"I'm going to enjoy hearing you scream." Trent hissed angrily, leaning in close. The words had little to no effect. He has played this little game too many times to even come close from giving up any information.

That changed a little, once he was locked back in his cell with new cuts and bruises and _god_, he hated this ugly jumpsuit. It was horrible and uncomfortable and…

Exhausted, he put his back against the wall and slowly slid down it until he was sitting on the floor.

"Where are you, Natalya?" he whispered to himself.

###

She decided quickly that she would keep this to herself- it hadn't hurt her before now and she was hoping against hope that it wouldn't keep her from doing her job, at least for a few more weeks. That was how she found herself going back into the field in what could probably be called a suicide mission.

_Hang in there, little one._ she thought as she plummeted down an elevator shaft. Then _Goddamnit, I've already given this thing a name. When exactly did _that _happen?_ Then _I better watch this landing, or walking tomorrow is going to hurt like a bitch. _

Then they were through the door and into a hallway and then… she stopped. The hairs on the back of her neck had began to prickle, and that couldn't mean anything good. To her surprise, the creature inside her seemed to join in as a strange fluttering sensation filled her midsection.

Her hand shot out to prevent Malpense from wandering obliviously to his death. Every time the kid started to grow on her, he would go and pull something like that, making her gnash her teeth in frustration at his hopeless naiveté and head straight back to square one. "Stop." she told him. "Too easy."

She unsheathed her girls and flicked the settings to highest, just in case. Then, she took two cautious steps into the hall.

There was a nearly inaudible click, and then the walls started spitting spikes at her. Wonderful. Her training took over, and she danced down the hallway slashing and hacking with everything she had. She very nearly made it too, when BAM. This was not a flutter, this was like being punched and she felt something slide down her leg- blood, probably, and then her shoulder got sliced. She bit back the pain and sliced at the spike anyways, swearing as it clattered to the floor. She fell against the door, breathing heavily, more concerned about what was going on inside of her then her shoulder. If was definitely blood.

"How bad?" she asked Otto, tipping her shoulder towards him.

"It's not pretty but you'll live." he told her. Great. One more scar to add to the list. She wondered if he could see the marks from Furan's belt, or if the tear in her body armor was too tiny. If he could, he wisely didn't ask questions.

"Guys, you need to move." Laura's voice hissed, startling her. "I don't know what just happened down there but every alarm in the building has just gone off up here."

Great. _Brilliant._ She made four quick cuts in the metal door and kicked it down. "So much for subtle." she muttered, and stepped inside.

###

As Otto slipped into his trance, she found her hand over her stomach again, darting glances over her shoulder. Why? She wasn't doing anything wrong. This was… natural.

_Not for _you_. _said a snide little voice in her head. _You were never meant for this._

"Shut up." she muttered, glancing at Otto again. "What was that?" she added in Russian. "I know I'm not really being the best mum right now, but I'm all you've got so don't you dare pull a stunt like that again- shit, Malpense!"

She ran to his side, dropping down and catching him before he fell backwards onto the floor. Removing his helmet revealed a face colorless apart from two trails of crimson blood spurting from his nose. His eyes flew open and he stared, seeing nothing. He looked dead.

"Otto!" she yelled.

Then he was back. "Nero." he said. _Yes, go on, we know, get on with it!_ "Switzerland, the Alps- he's in the mountains."

###

"How are you feeling?" she asked him later.

"I've felt better." he said. He was leaning against the wall of the elevator. "You? Are you really…"

They stared at each other for a split second. Once upon a time, she had a little brother, didn't she? A brother who stared out at the world with ice blue eyes.

She nodded.

"You shouldn't be here." he said, looking a bit worried. Like she was made out of glass an might shatter and the slightest touch.

"There'll be time for vacation afterwards." she snapped.

And then the elevator stopped, and everything went to shit.

###

Twin blond bobbleheads tried to kill her. Fine. Fancy driving maneuvers through the streets of London. Fine. Malpense whining about going on the mission to save Nero and pulling some sort of techno-ninja stunt. Fine. Fricking AI robot ninjas. Why the hell not? At least they were friendly. Darkdoom whining about going on the mission. Annoying, but fine.

Her first sonogram? She wound up bawling like a baby (hah, that was ironic), crying as she hadn't since she had first met Nero. Because this… this was really hard. She would start thinking about _anything,_ and eventually arrive back at her child. Which made her cry. At least she didn't seem to exhibiting any other sort of mood swings, or, heaven forbid, pickle cravings.

She had the pictures on her Blackbox and spent all her free time staring at them, one finger hovering over the delete icon just in case someone came up behind her. Malpense hadn't touched the issue, yet (probably because of the crying) and for that she was extremely grateful.

And now she was in a missile.

A fracking missile.

For the love of God, how did she get herself into these situations?

"Grapples aren't firing!" she yelled as it ploughed through the snow. _Not here. Not now. I can't fall to my death. No no no no no-_

She should have been used to the sensation of plummeting by now, but she still hated it. Thankfully, it was short. She hung from the grappler unit's line for a few seconds, admiring the view and hating herself before hauling herself up.

"I had a feeling this would come in handy." she said with a deep breath, holding up the grappler.

Little One agreed, via flutters.

###

Everything went well, and then it really, _really _didn't. Why hadn't they fixed the suits so they couldn't be disabled? Not that it mattered. It was time to fight.

She wondered idly where the twins had been trained as they fought for their lives. They must have been raised completely dependent on each other, one cohesive unit. She wondered what that might be like, to- HER HEAD _ooowwwwww._

That was going to hurt in the morning.

Everything was a blur from that point on. She was functioning on autopilot, all brain power taken up by the big, important question _where is Max?!_

And then they got a phone call from space.

Her heart was pounding as they neared the coordinates. She couldn't sit still- she would collapse into a seat only to jump up and rush off to her bedroom, then take off again. Finally, finally, they arrived. And then… then there was Otto, and…

Nero climbed carefully down from the top of the pod, clearly still weakened by his injuries from whatever the hell had happened to them. But he still smiled when he saw her.

And her mind went blank. Completely blank.

She was silent for what couldn't have been longer then a second before instincts kicked in, instincts that had been _cut _in via the scars on her back.

"Sir." she said, nodding. The Glasshouse part of her celebrated having escaped twenty lashes.

"It is good to see you, Natalya." Nero said, putting a hand on her shoulder, though it seemed more to steady himself than anything else.

"Always." she told him.

"Did you deal with Trent?" Nero said.

"No." she said angrily. That man was going to _pay._ Only a few times in recent years had she seen Nero act his age, and now was one of them.

"Don't worry." Nero said quietly. "I suspect that we have not heard the last of Sebastien Trent or H.O.P.E. There will be other opportunities."

"I hope so." Darkdoom said. _Me too._ "We have some scores to settle."

"Diabolus" –Nero shook Darkdoom's hand- "thank you for the lift." He made a vague gesture towards the Megalodon.

"Thank Mr. Malpense." Darkdoom said. "He was the one who sent us the coordinates where we would find you, but, if my communications officer is right, the origin points of the transmission was rather… unusual."

"That, my friend, is a long story." Nero said, grinning.

"And I have one for you." she said gently.

He frowned. "Natalya, is something wrong?"

"Let's go inside." she said firmly. "I think you'll want to be sitting down…"

**Bonus points if you can spot the little Dreadnought bit I slid in here. I switched the character who's thinking it, but other than that it's pretty much word for word. Feel free to let me know if you like/dislike the whole sections of Escape Velocity from Raven's perspective thing. I'm really having fun with it, but the customer is always right…**


	3. Chapter 3

**You guys are amazing. Seriously. I'm currently working on an Avengers fic that has over 4,000 views, and yet I always get more reviews on this. Thank you so much for all your support!**

**Also, I got the opportunity to go and watch **_**Don Giovanni**_** just like Nero and Raven. My friends could not figure out why I was so excited… : )**

**Also also, there's some swearing in this chapter.**

They walked together, passing Otto and his little gang. He was bone-tired, but he did his best to keep up with Raven and not to show it. She was sneaking glances at him out of the corner of her eye for whatever reason, her expression almost… guilty. He hoped that she wasn't feeling too bad about his capture. It was always so hard to deal with her when she was in a self-hating mood.

"Do we need to stop and get you patched up first?" she asked, concern coloring her quiet voice.

"I'll survive." he told her.

She grabbed his arm and guided him down the hall. She walked faster than him, like always, except this time the difference between their gaits was even more pronounced than usual. By the time they reached her room, she was practically dragging him and her hand had slipped down his arm to interlace her fingers with his.

She pushed open the door, then stopped to survey him. "You've lost a lot of weight." she said quietly.

"I'm sure you can help remedy that." Nero said. Now that she had brought up the topic of food, all he could think of was the one time she'd made him pancakes and his mouth was watering. "Where did you learn to cook, anyway?"

"Where I learned everything else." she said. She sat down on the edge of her bed and Nero followed her lead and settled in beside her, shutting the door behind him.

"Really?" He could smell her hair from his position beside her. She hadn't changed her shampoo, which he appreciated. He lifted one hand to place it around her waist, then thought better of it and set it back down onto the comforter. "Did they teach you how to kill people with longing for your food?"

She rewarded him with a fraction of a smile. "No. I was… delicate for a while, and they didn't want me near any weapons. So Furan taught me how to…" As though someone had flipped a switch, sudden tears appeared in her eyes. "Can we not talk about this?"

"Of course." he said.

"Good." Raven stood up and studied him for a second.

"Is something wrong?" Nero asked cautiously. The tears were gone now, but he really didn't want to bring them back.

She leaned forward and kissed him, pushing him down onto the bed. He grunted in surprise, sliding his hands up under her shirt.

"Nothing… you… can't fix." she whispered between kisses.

Nero debated his options. He could go take a bath and change into some fresh clothes followed by a meal and then begin plotting their next move against H.O.P.E. and Trent, or he could screw Natalya, risk discovery by Darkdoom and his students, and probably get even sorer.

She unbuttoned his shirt and dipped her mouth lower. Who was he kidding? The choice was obvious.

###

Afterwards they lay on their sides on the bed and talked, occasionally moving in for another kiss when the situation demanded it. It was nice, pretending that everything was okay and they were just ordinary people having a good time together.

He noticed that she had immediately put her clothes back on and had a suspicion it had to do with the dozens of scars that crisscrossed her back and torso. It stung a little bit that she still didn't feel comfortable exposing that part of her to him, but he knew it probably had more to do with her own traumatic memories then anything he had said or done.

"You really are amazing at this." he told her, his thumb moving in slow circles on her back.

She smiled. "You aren't too bad, for an… older fellow."

"Thank you."

"Anytime." She stared complacently at the wall besides his head.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked gently, brushing his foot against hers.

She curled her toes over his. "My future, I guess. I can't be rushing around killing ninjas forever. Maybe I should settle down… start a family. Little house with a dog and a white picket fence…"

"I can't see it." he told her.

"Really?"

"I can see you working in an office…" he said. "In a suit, sitting in a cubicle… but you'd be one of those prickly, cold women who only care about their next paycheck."

"That's nice." she sniffed.

"What, you'd prefer being a minivan chauffer? Sorry, sweetie, looks like I'm late picking you up from soccer practice because I had to go and murder the president of the United States. Now, do you want spaghetti for dinner or perhaps hot dogs?"

She didn't laugh, but instead continued staring distractedly at the wall.

"Plus, I think you're supposed to have a… stable environment for kids." he said. "And our life is anything but stable."

"I sure as hell didn't." Raven said. She seemed to be taking this conversation much more seriously all of the sudden. "And I turned out okay."

"What is your definition of 'okay'?"

"Is there something wrong with me?" Raven said defensively.

"What? No! Well, I mean you _can_ be slightly sociopathic at times but-"

"I'm not a sociopath!" she yelled.

They stared at each other for a few seconds.

"How bad…" she started, then stopped, swallowed, and continued. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Sure." he said.

"That's… not really an answer." she said, tilting her head slightly to look at him.

"It seems to me like you have something you want to get off your chest, so go ahead and say it and then we can both sleep."

She sat up, refusing to look at him.

"I'm not capable of reading minds, I'm afraid." he said, temper flaring.

"I'm pregnant, you-" She pressed her hand to her mouth, obviously fighting back tears.

"Okay." he said.

"Okay?" Raven demanded. "Okay? You just say _okay_?"

"We can't keep it." Nero told her. That would just be ridiculous, and unfair to the child. That was if he could keep Raven from murdering it in the cradle, or before it was even born. She might be better now than back when he had first met her, but she couldn't change the fact that her hands were already fully saturated in the blood of men, women and children.

Raven stared at him. "I…"

"What, you actually thought it was a good idea to have a go at playing parents?" Nero scoffed. "How exactly would that work?"

Raven stared at him.

"I'm sorry, Natalya." Nero said with a sigh. "But the idea of us… it's just ridiculous."

She stared at her feet for a few seconds.

"I… I thought…"

"I'll find a doctor and we'll deal with it." Nero told her firmly. "Now, I want to talk to you about Number One. T-"

"Max." Raven interrupted. She was still refusing to look at him. "I can't."

"Yes?" Nero demanded.

"I can't hurt her."

They stared at each other for a second. _Are you kidding me_? Nero thought. _Now is when you decide to have a conscience? _"That's terribly inconvenient." he said aloud.

"I don't care. This is your life now." Raven said defensively. "Better start getting used to it."

"No." Nero corrected. "This is your life now. I'm certainly not going to have the time to take care of a mewling infant."

"Then make time!"

"Natalya, I'm not saying I can't." Nero was standing up now, pulling his clothes back on. "I'm saying I _won't_. I don't want anything to do with this child's life. You may raise it, if you're going to insist on being selfish-"

"Explain to me how this is being _selfish_, exactly?"

"Certainly." he said mockingly. "Would you like me to use little words, so you can understand?"

She stared at him in complete and utter horror. "I can't…"

"How about this- just because I slept with you, it doesn't mean I care about you." he added coldly. This was a bit of a lie- watching the expression on her face fluctuate from horror to anger to pure fear was tearing at his insides. He definitely _cared_ for her, sure, just… not enough to justify tearing his whole life apart just because she had screwed up.

He watched as Raven's face shut down. She stood up calmly. "That's that, then."

Somehow, it was more terrifying then having her near tears.

"How did you end up in space, exactly?" she asked casually. "And what exactly happened with Number One?"

He gave her the short version, skipping over the part about Otto being Number One's clone. He hadn't broached the subject with the boy yet, but had a feeling he wouldn't want that particular fact spread around.

Raven frowned. "That's… not what I was expecting."

"I certainly wasn't anticipating anything of the sort." Nero confessed. It was so odd how they could be fighting one second and having a civilized conversation the next. Raven was a professional, after all.

_And so are you._ he reminded himself, silently berating himself. "The question is, where do we go from here? Someone has to be in charge of the council."

"Why don't you do it?"

He laughed. "Me? I'm just an old schoolteacher. Besides, half the members of the council want to kill me. We'd have a revolution on our hands if I tried to take control."

"I can take care of anyone who isn't feeling up to being a team player." Raven said.

"I think you're going to be a bit more preoccupied with knitting blankets and your swollen feet, actually." he bit back.

There went the professionalism.

Raven ignored his comment. "Although I suppose that would do nothing but add fuel to the fire… what about Darkdoom?"

"What about him?"

"Why can't he step in as head of the council?" Raven said, raising an eyebrow. "The only problem I can think of is that he might spend our entire budget on new gadgets."

He frowned, considering the suggestion. "Yes… that might just work."

"You should go and talk to him." she ordered gently. "And get checked over. Infected wounds while you're already weakened-"

"I get it, Mum." he snapped.

Ordinarily she would have smiled at that, but instead her face remained blank. "I'll be here if you need me." she said, turning away.

"I won't be needing you anymore." he told her briskly.

He walked away, pretending he couldn't see her heart breaking in her chest.

###

Darkdoom was skeptical about taking over the council at first, but Nero managed to persuade him that it would be a good idea. They began making plans for how exactly to explain what had happened without sounding completely stark raving mad.

"This is hopeless." Darkdoom said, sighing and stretching out his arms like a cat. "No one is ever going to believe that we didn't just kill him ourselves."

_That's what Raven is for._ Nero started to say, then remembered.

Darkdoom stared at him. "Is everything all right?"

Nero sighed. He wanted to tell Darkdoom and get it off his chest, but at the same time he wanted to protect Natalya in every way that he could. Which was, of course, ridiculous. Raven could look after herself. "I've just learned that Natalya is most likely leaving us for good."

"She's _dying?_" Darkdoom spluttered. "Of what? How long have you known? Is there anything I can do?"

_I guess that sentence sounded less confusing in my head._ "No." Nero said carefully. "She's… perusing other career options."

Darkdoom frowned. "Like what?"

"Mum." Nero said bitterly.

Darkdoom's jaw dropped.

"Which I'm understandably a little upset about." Nero continued. "I don't think she's making the right decisions, and she's too stubborn to listen to me-"

"Oh my god." Darkdoom said, leaning up to stare at the ceiling. "You guys made a baby. That is… that is… _wow._"

Nero had nothing to say to that.

###

She felt numb. None of the scenarios she had played out in her mind had ended like this. She had just assumed that in the end, Nero's fatherly instincts would take over and they'd find some way to make it work.

Not that he'd just up and leave her.

"Be careful." Darkdoom told her as she prepared to leave for her second doctor's appointment. Given the amount of both physical and mental stress she had been under recently, she had to make sure Little One wasn't suffering because of it.

"Of course." she said. Did he know? He couldn't possibly… Max wouldn't tell him. Maybe if he had stepped up to the plate and embraced his role as dad, but he was acting as though the whole thing was an embarrassment. He wouldn't possibly show weakness to Darkdoom, would he?

"Wait."

The room's temperature seemed to drop a few degrees as Nero entered the room.

"What are you doing here?" Raven asked, doing her best to keep her voice casual.

"I want to come with you." he said.

She regarded him for a second. His face was a perfect mask of indifference, even the little tells she had learned to read over the years carefully concealed. She supposed he was probably just coming along to convince her to murder her child. But she already knew she would never, ever, be capable of that.

"All right." she said.

They set off in silence. How many times had they walked together like this, alone against the world? But now there was a wall between them, and she didn't think she could breach it without some help from the other party.

It began to rain, small drips at first and then sheets. She unfurled her umbrella and huddled beneath it, seconds later remembering Nero. She reached up, trying to cover him too, but ended up smacking his jaw and showering his coat in the droplets already beading on the outside of the umbrella's surface.

He winced at the cold contact and gently took the handle from her. They pressed together awkwardly, trying to share the space and at the same time avoid eye-contact.

"I swear, it doesn't _always_ rain here." Nero said, breaking the silence.

She said nothing, her hands in tight fists buried deep in the pockets of her coat. The rest of the walk passed in silence, until they reached the hospital where she had her first exam.

The same woman was working at the desk, and when she saw Raven she smiled. "Back again?"

"I had a nasty fall." Raven said, indicating the cut on her forehead from the twins as proof. "I wanted to make sure everything was all right."

"Oh, you poor dear." said the woman. "Nothing broken, I hope?"

"Just bruised." Raven said with a grimace. Nero watched the encounter with fascination. Rarely does he get to see Raven play normal, and just how good she was at it always startled him. The two chatted about the weather for a few minutes before the woman looks up at him and said "Is this the father?"

"He's my father." Raven said, increasing her smile. "He's here for moral support just in case… you know… something is wrong…"

He watched the pretend happiness on her face vanish to be replaced by real fear. _She really does care for it._ he noted with disgust.

"I'm sure it will be fine." the woman said. She typed something into the computer, then said "Why don't you into Room 7? Doctor Ball will be with you shortly."

"Thank you." Nero said. He followed Raven down the hallway. He sat down in one of the hard plastic chairs, and Raven took off her coat and tossed it at him. He caught it and as he draped it over the back of his chair he noticed Raven pull up the hem of her shirt a few inches and gently prod her stomach. She doesn't look fat at all. Is that all right? Shouldn't she be bigger?

He forced himself not to worry. As Raven got comfortable, he said "You've done this before?"

"After the Deepcore mission. My body isn't exactly a great habitat for a baby." she said with a grimace.

"And everything was all right?" Why is he asking so many questions?

"It's small." Raven said. She sounded a bit distraught over this. "It probably don't mean anything... but…"

They slid back into tense silence, the only noise music coming from the speaker in the corner. Suddenly, he got a wild idea.

Nero stood up. "Want to dance?"

Raven frowned. "Dance?"

"Yes, you know." He did a sort of tap-dance step. "Come on."

"Why?"

"Because I like this song."

She stared at him for a moment, her face blank. "All right." she finally said.

She stood up. He took one of her hands and put the other on his shoulder, then set his on her waist. They began to move slowly in a circle, shifting weight from foot to foot. It was nice to finally dance with someone who actually knew what they were doing.

"This is nice." he said quietly.

She rested her cheek against his chest. "No, this is confusing. You have to pick a side. You can't switch back and forth. That's not how it works."

"I thought I made myself pretty clear-"

"Yes, and now we're slow dancing and cuddling. In a doctor's office." She let out a sigh. "And you claim you aren't a romantic."

"Then let's stop." he said, pushing her away.

"Fine." she said, raising an eyebrow. They went back to their original seating arrangement.

###

He knew that he had to stay strong. He was trying to be the voice of reason here! But…

He glanced towards Raven. They were sitting in a café, him sipping coffee, her devouring a tuna salad sandwich. She didn't seem to notice. He almost laughed. Her appetite reminded him of when she'd first gotten out of the hospital after they'd met. It had been so fun, giving her plate after plate and watching her stare at it like a kid on Christmas morning.

_I think it looked like me. A bit. Maybe._

No! He couldn't start thinking like that. Once it began, he knew there would be no stopping him from decorating a nursery and kissing Raven's stomach and spoiling this thing rotten.

Completely ruining her life and his. Not to mention the fact that he didn't love her. He honestly didn't. Sure, he cared about her and liked to see her happy. And sometimes they indulged in friendship when their occupations didn't demand otherwise. And she was pretty good-looking. And she seemed to like him back. And he'd fantasized about her a lot. But that didn't mean he _loved_ her.

Because he couldn't possibly.

He wouldn't.

He realized she was staring at him, waiting for an answer. "Yes?"

"I'm going to transfer to the Yekatrineburg base." she said.

"Now?" he demanded, the question coming out a little sharper then he wanted it to.

"Yes." she said. "I want to get settled, find a flat before малютка arrives."

"Oh." he said. "Okay. You want to go back to Russia?"

She shrugged and turned away, staring out the window.

"I'll try and arrange that." he said coldly. "But I'm not exactly on the best terms with the council at the moment."

"I'm sure you can pull a few strings." she mumbled.

He frowned. "Are you all right?"

Her head snapped towards him. "I'm fucking exhausted, Max! I haven't been able to sleep in a week and then you go and decide to be a total asshole on top of everything! Do you think I'm enjoying this anymore then you are?"

"Hold on, you are not allowed to complain about being stressed over a problem _you could very easily fix._" he spat.

"And I _told_ you, I can't do that!" Raven hissed.

"Listen, you can't do this." Nero insisted. "I'm telling you this for your own good. You can't work a desk job, you get twitchy if you have to sit in a meeting for a couple of hours. Not to mention the kid on top of everything. If you're this stressed out now, how do you think you'll feel after it's waking you up every night at two in the morning? I've seen what happens. I've seen you snap-"

"You think I'm some sort of _monster_?" Raven asked. Her voice had lost any trace of ice and that was how he knew she was _really_ pissed.

"No." he said. "I'm telling you-"

"Fuck you." Raven stood up and walked away, half her sandwich uneaten on the table.

Nero closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. She was so _stubborn_ sometimes. Letting emotions blind her to what _had to be done._

_What are you worrying about?_ asked a voice in his head. _Natalya can take care of herself. She'll be just fine on her own- she can make it work._

_But that doesn't mean I don't want her here with me._

**God, that was frustrating to write. I got so mad at Nero halfway through this chapter I had to whine to about him to my friend for a couple minutes before I could continue. Well, there ya go. Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**If you're wondering why this chapter disappeared and reappeared, I needed to edit it and ended up adding a lot more than I intended. If you read Version 1 already, just skip down to where Raven wakes up and you should be good.**

Raven looked slightly anxious as she picked up her bag and started down the ramp. Darkdoom probably couldn't tell, but he could see it as plain as day in her movements. "Listen." he heard Darkdoom say in a quiet voice as he reached forward to catch Raven's arm. "If you ever need anything- money, a place to crash, a baby sitter… I'm right here." He frowned. "Well. Not right here. This is a submarine. But you know what I mean."

Raven smiled. Her whole face lost fifteen years of pain whenever she did that and it made him want to smile too. "Of course. Thank you very much."

"You're welcome." Darkdoom said, patting her on the back. As she turned away from him, his expression twisted into one of anger and he produced a knife from nowhere and rammed it between Raven's shoulder blades.

He tried to move, to do something, anything, but soldiers in the familiar G.L.O.V.E. uniforms appeared out of nowhere, grabbing his arms and legs and pulling him away from the horrible frozen tableau enfolding before his eyes.

Raven's whole body seemed to shudder once, then she folded in on herself, the emotion of surprise for once clearly displayed on her face. He watched, horrified as she bled out in seconds, her eyes fixated on him in a silent plea before they finally fluttered shut.

###

The dream, like all the others that had come before it, did not sharply cut off like nightmares in books and movies. Instead there was a gray period where he was half-awake and half-asleep, trying to rationalize the inventions of his tired brain. Then, he woke up.

_Natalya is fine._ he told himself. The reassurance did nothing, so he reached for his Blackbox and typed out a quick text to her.

**Doctor_Nero: **How are you?

He waited a couple of heart-stopping seconds before she responded.

**r:** tired and fat

He felt rage begin to rise inside of him. She wasted so much time complaining about how terrible she felt. What was the point if she wasn't going to do anything to fix it?

He checked the time and groaned internally. Why exactly was it that Natalya suddenly had the power to keep him up at night? And not in a good way. Well, he had nothing better to do at four AM.

**Doctor_Nero**: We've got the 93 percenter coming up.

**Doctor_Nero**: You should come too.

**r:** cant my feet hrut too much

**Doctor_Nero**: Please stop complaining.

**r:** then u come and be preggnant tehn

He swallowed down a sigh. She was so frustratingly stubborn sometimes. He didn't want to talk about their child. He just wanted to _talk_, like they used to before this whole mess had started

**Doctor_Nero**: You could chaperone Malpense's group.

**r:** lol

**r:** u realy no how 2 motivate ppl

Didn't she realize he didn't understand half of what she was saying? And what was wrong with her spelling?

**r:** how is he btw

Nero frowned. Had Malpense told Raven about what had been revealed in the battle with Number One/Overlord? He knew they seemed to be getting along a little better, but he hadn't thought they were that close…

A strange feeling flared in his chest, which he quickly identified as jealousy. He immediately banished it. He was not going to be jealous of a twelve-year-old boy!

**Doctor_Nero**: What do you mean?

There. That way, he wasn't revealing anything if he didn't know.

**r:** he just seemed off when we got back

**r:** tried to talk to him but he just sorta shut down

**Doctor_Nero**: He found out some startling information and I think it hit him pretty hard. He's pretty much come to terms with it now, however.

**r:** good

**r:** i have to go

**Doctor_Nero**: It's certainly early for work. Is there a problem?

**r:** not going to work

**r:** doctor

**Doctor_Nero**: Is everything all right?

**r:** yeah

**r:** except i get dizzy a lot

There was a pause.

**r:** he's not doing very well

Nero frowned.

**Doctor_Nero**: What? Who are you talking about?

**r:** our son

He closed his eyes. He could practically see the stress and fear radiating from Raven's words, picture her face, mouth tightened to a thin line in front of him. He hadn't wanted the child but… he certainly didn't want this, either?

_But you told her to kill him, _said a nasty little voice in his head. _How would that upset her any less? If anything, it would be worse._

**Doctor_Nero**: It's a boy, then?

He wanted nothing more than to somehow reach through the screen and tuck Raven into his arms and make her see that it was all right, but he knew that wasn't possible.

**r:** yeah

**r:** didnt i tell u

He was annoyed for a split second, but quickly realized that was silly. Of course she wouldn't have told him. Whenever she volunteered information about it- _him_, he corrected himself- all she got was lecturing and cold remarks.

Not that there was anything wrong with how he was treating her.

**r:** hes not getting enough oxygen

**Doctor_Nero**: Will everything be okay?

There was another pause.

**r:** i dont no

###

All day he was distracted. He taught the wrong lesson to his third-period class (which he thought was very Pike of him), dumped coffee all over his lap and almost smacked one girl in the face (on accident) when she came up to ask him a question.

_Raven hates going to the hospital. What if she starts to panic and they can't calm her down?_

_What if she loses the baby and she gets depressed again?_

_What if she…_

He forced the image out of his head. No. She was better now. Stronger. She would be sad, if something like that happened, very sad, but he had seen how quickly and ruthlessly she could get over a loss. This time would be no different.

Except it was different. It was so different.

_What if Raven goes into labor and I'm not there?_

That statement threw him. He hadn't planned on being there before, but… it didn't seem right. They had always gone through the worst together, and he thought maybe he could afford to take a week off and go and see her. Just to make sure she was coping all right.

_What if she dies?_

_What if she dies all alone in that hospital?_

_What if she dies believing I don't care about her?_

Well, he didn't care about her. Much. He'd told her himself. But Raven wasn't going to die. If anyone could survive childbirth, it was her. Besides, she was out of the excitement, now. She was living halfway across the world in a regular flat in a regular city working a (semi)regular job and doing regular things like… grocery shopping and… and… whatever else normal people did.

_What if she dies and I have to take care of our son?_

That stopped him short.

_Boarding school_, his practical side informed him._He'll be fine. And if he has any potential, he can come here when he's old enough_.

But did he really want his son growing up with a cold, distant father? He didn't like that idea at all.

His thoughts switched from the girl he'd saved to the one he'd abandoned to her torn-apart family. Her step-father's behavior had slowly changed her over the years he'd known her, so at the tender age of twelve she was already jaded. Maybe she wouldn't have snapped like she had if someone had just paid her more than a passing glance as a child-

_Stop that_, he told himself. He couldn't fix his past mistakes. Not that he could have done anything to fix her, anyways.

He checked his Blackbox for the millionth time- no new messages. Why wasn't Natalya calling or texting?

_So either nothing's wrong, or everything's wrong and she's dead_.

He jumped as a quiet voice said "Sir?"

It was Teresa Lynch, one of the first years. "Yes?"

"Is there anything we should know, in preparation for-"

His phone rang, and he nearly dropped it twice trying to answer it. "Hello?"

He could hear crying in the background, and his heart twisted. Oh, no. "Natalya?" he said gently, as Teresa Lynch stared up at him with eyes like saucers. "Is everything okay?"

The crying continued. Teresa shifted from foot to foot. "Um. Should I go?"

He shooed her away with one hand. "Natalya?" he repeated, a little sterner this time. "Talk to me, please. I can't read minds."

He sat there for a full minute, just listening to her sob. Nero found himself unconsciously stroking the phone, as though somehow the comforting motion could reach her. As he waited, the feeling of dread in his stomach continued to strengthen. Something must be really wrong for her to carry on like this-

Raven stopped crying, took a handful of ragged breaths, and said "I'm sorry for bothering you," in the most pitiful voice he had ever heard. It was like they were all the way back to the beginning, and she had turned to him fearfully after making a mistake, expecting a blow or god-knows-what.

"Natalya, if there's something wrong you can tell me about it." he said, annoyed. Didn't she know to trust him by now? And what was wrong? It was really starting to scare him.

###

She clenched and unclenched one fist on her lap. She couldn't stop shivering- her coat and pants were still damp from walking around in the pouring rain. She shifted position, still fighting back the tears she couldn't quite get under control, tucking her knees up to her chest.

She couldn't. She just couldn't.

"No, really." she said, wiping snot off her face. "It's nothing. I swear. Just… everything seems really important, you know? I can't…"

She trailed off, uselessly. I am useless.

Nero sighed in annoyance. "In that case, I'm getting back to work. You do realize that I'm in the middle of a class right?"

"Right, I'm sorry." she said, forcing herself to sound brisk and disinterested. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Just…. I don't know." She hit the button to hang up before he had to hear her start crying all over again. Then she buried her face in her pillow and screamed.

It took a while to calm herself down, and even then her eyes weren't quite dry. But she was thinking straight, and that was all she needed.

She stood up and crossed to the desk. Her flat was small, so she slept on a pull-out couch very close to both the refrigerator and the bathroom. Her stomach was unpredictable these days, especially when she was lying in bed trying to shut her brain off (which had of course, never been a problem before).

The plain brown cardboard box sat on top of her desk, the tape still hanging from it like a demented and sticky ribbon. She had taken one look at the contents and panicked, latching on to the closest thing she had to a friend.

_You can do this_, she told herself, and picked up the envelope laying on top.

It was small and cream colored. How could something so tiny do some much damage? Just one word was all it took. Then again, a single cell had devastated the one friendship she thought was completely bomb-proof.

The envelope read, in sickeningly familiar printing, _My Magnificent Girl_. She stared at it for a second before forcing herself to open the envelope. They could probably have use a computer to forge the handwriting. It didn't necessarily mean what she thought it meant

But who else would know the right words to slip right through her shell and hit her where it hurt?

Inside the envelope was a card with a colorful illustration of a bird on it. She stared at it blankly for a few seconds, then forced herself to open it. Inside, in the same handwriting, were the words

_I send my regards and condolences for your loss._

A scream escaped her mouth and she hurled the card as far away from her as she could. She sank to her knees and watched as the paper drifted, caught in some current invisible to the naked eye, before finally settling onto a patch of carpet.

She stuffed her fist in her mouth to try to keep another cry in. _Get up. This is pathetic. Get up!_

Little One joined in, and the pain brought him to her feet. She wondered if he could sense her emotions when they were particularly strong, because he always seemed to become very active just when she needed to forget about him. The only other time that happened was when she put Nero on speaker phone so Little One could hear his father's voice. That made him go absolutely nuts.

Seizing the box, she squeezed her eyes shut and flipped it over, dumping the contents onto her lap. Something soft brushed her legs. She opened one eye, then the other.

It was a blanket. A beautiful, hand-knitted blanket in shades of cream and buttercup yellow, the perfect size for a baby. She ran her fingers over it, marveling at how soft it was_. I wonder if someone ever made something like this for me._

Another kick made her let out a squeak of pain. She had stopped bleeding, at least, because of Little One, but the agony persisted and the doctors couldn't seem to find a cause or solution.

"You like it?" she whispered, lying down on her back and holding the blanket up to the light. She could get rid of it, burn it, tear it to pieces and then burn it, but if she kept it… it felt sort of like a personal victory, somehow.

_Ignore the hurt. Keep moving forward, no matter what._

"You can't catch me." she sang softly to anyone who might be listening. "No one ever could…"

###

That night she dreamed of her escape, staggering for miles through the ice-cold snow only to be finally dragged back to the Glasshouse. She woke up screaming on the floor, blood soaking her nightgown and legs. Fear hit her like a wave- something was really wrong with her. She didn't want to die all alone like this...

Her fingers found the blanket and pressed it to her mouth, muzzling her sobs.

She heard a soft noise behind her and a whole new fear shot through her. _Someone is here._

She jumped to her feet and turned to face her new adversaries. There was only one, and he was dressed in full tactical gear, a helmet obscuring his facial features. She whipped the pistol from beneath her pillow and fired twice at his head, but the bullets pinged uselessly off the material. "Shit." she muttered, taking a hasty step backwards and wishing desperately she hadn't left her katanas with Professor Pike so he could develop the technology further. That had really been a stupid move on her part.

"Doors." she said, as she felt her back press up against the wall. "Open. Raven three-three-seven-four-nine."

There was a soft hiss as the doors did just that. She turned and fled, her heart pounding in time to the heavy footsteps of her pursuer. Whoever it was either was very good, or sent by someone who didn't know her very well.

She rounded the corner and spun suddenly, hoping to catch her attacker off guard with a swift uppercut, but he easily avoided the sloppy punch and responded with a series of blows of his own, which she only just managed to counter. There was something frighteningly familiar about this whole thing, but that didn't make a lot of sense. Most of the time, her adversaries didn't leave the encounter in one piece.

They circled for a moment, waiting, watching. Then the man moved faster than Raven thought was physically possible. She managed to lean back so the kick hit her mouth with barely a quarter of the force packed into it, but it was still enough to taste blood in her mouth. She stumbled, then lashed out with her pistol, but it was no good.

She was already almost out of breath, and completely on the defensive as her attacker launched a second flurry, which she avoided somehow. But she was moving back, and she knew in a few seconds she'd be cornered against the wall-

Her foot slipped in something went and sticky and she went down, her back slamming into the floor and knocking her breathless. She screamed as she bit her tongue, her hands immediately falling to her stomach in some useless gesture to protect Little One.

The man picked up her gun from where it had landed a couple of feet away, then pointed it at her head. She stared at him, panting. She knew she had to beg, cry, play the hysterical civilian (which wouldn't be to hard right now) in order to keep him from accidentally hurting her son, but something inside her told her to watch and wait instead.

Whatever it was, it was right.

The man removed his helmet. "Privet Natalya," he said in Russian, not even breathing hard. "It is good to see you again."

She stared defiantly up at him, struggling to her knees. Just before she lost consciousness, she threw up all over his shiny leather boots.

###

When she came to, she was strapped to one of her kitchen chairs, Furan sitting in front of her and eating her Ben and Jerry's Phish Food out of the carton, noticeably barefoot.

"Come now, Natalya." he said. "Is that anyway to greet an old friend?"

"Take these off and I'll greet you properly." she spat, struggling with her restraints.

"Hm." he said. "Let's not and say we did."

She sat in silence, fuming, as he scraped the bottom on the carton to get the last few spoonfulls. He set the empty container down on the counter and crossed his arms.

"It escapes me why you're helping Nero with his pathetic attempts to turn G.L.O.V.E. brats into useful operatives." he informed her.

"It escapes me why you won't _leave me the fuck alone."_

"The great leaders of our world are not manufactured, Natalya. They are born in blood, in the war zone or on the streets, like we were. Not in a classroom like battery chickens."

"You kidnapped me and held me against my will for six years while you trained me to be just like you. That sounds like manufacturing to me."

He shook his head. "You really have let yourself go." He leaned down and grabbed her chin in his hand, squishing her lips together uncomfortably. "Where is the respect I taught you?"

She stared at him with murder in her eyes, unable to answer him.

He smiled and released her, leaning back against the counter and drawing a knife from somewhere. "Now. You're going to explain to me why you suddenly decided to up and move three blocks from my apartment, or I'm going to have to extract it from you."

She frowned. "Your apartment?"

He slapped her across one cheek. "Do you think I am stupid? Don't play games with me, Natalya."

"I don't know!" she yelled, kicking out blindly and managing to graze his shins. "I don't…"

She could feel the tears coming. _Not now! I can't show weakness in front of him; that would be suicide._

"Fine." Furan said with a shrug, seizing her wrist. "Which finger do you need the least?"

She stared at him in horror. He really didn't care what he did to her. Of course. She was useless, so useless and _weak._ And because of that she was going to die here all alone-

Furan just stared at her, his expression wavering a bit, as she began to sob hysterically. "Is this a new tactic? Well, it won't work-"

"I got fired." she said through gritted teeth. _I'm strong now. I won't cry._ "I'm on my own now."

A smile. "And you claimed he was _honorable._ Yet he discarded you like a used tissue when you were no longer useful to him. It seems he finally realized that honor has no use in this world. So here you are, washed up and fat-"

He aimed a punch at her stomach but she screamed "NO!" and jerked the chair so hard it toppled over onto its side. Her head slammed into the floor and she felt a searing pain spread across her scalp. She started crying again, her tears mixing with the blood from the cut on her forehead.

Furan knelt beside her. "That was unexpected." he said. "Would you like to explain-"

His eyes focused on her stomach, then darted to the baby blanket still lying on the floor halfway across the room, and sudden understanding crossed his face before turning into murderous rage. "Tell me you didn't." he said in a tone that told her there would be consequences if the answer was not to his liking.

"Please." she begged. "_Please_. Don't hurt him."

"I thought you had learned your lesson the first time." he snarled, leaning closer to her face. "I suppose I'll just have to show you what happens-"

He had his hand raised as if to strike her, but then seemed to think better of it.

"Please." she whispered again. "I'll do anything. I… I'll work for you again. I'll kill Max for you. Just don't take him. Don't hurt him."

He looked at her with an odd expression in his eyes… pity? Then it was gone.

"I think," he said "that it's time for a little family reunion."

Raven's eyes widened. "No. Not- no- _PLEASE-_"

His hand crept toward her neck and it all went black.

**Anastasia Furan is all over this chapter but never mentioned by name, LOL.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, I'm done hiatusing**

…**not that I was very good at it…**

'**M BACK GUYS!**

**August 14****th****, 2004**

She couldn't remember where they had been exactly, but it was in a little cabin somewhere far away and exotic, and it was too warm. She could never sleep at this temperature. Raven rolled over onto her stomach, propping her chin up on her fists. She knew she had to take this opportunity to sleep while it was present as she didn't know when her next chance might come, but…

Above her, she heard a quiet noise. It could have just been Max mumbling in his sleep, but she didn't believe in coincidence. Silently, she slid out of bed and climbed up to his bunk, kneeling quietly by his feet.

He appeared to be asleep, but she knew he was good at faking it. She reached out to touch his shoulder, then decided against it. If Nero really had dropped off to dreamland, she certainly didn't want to ruin it for him. He didn't have nearly as much stamina as she did- that would be just cruel.

Instead, she carefully climbed over him to his other side, and lay down, facing away from him. She closed her eyes and tried to relax. For a moment, it seemed like the pounding of her heart was going to wake him up. She took a deep breath and managed to slow it, then pulled off her t-shirt and pushed it into the corner of the mattress. There. That was better.

A few minutes later, just as she was starting to settle in, an arm looped around her waist and a head came to rest on top of hers. She smiled, still not opening her eyes.

"Lena." Nero mumbled into one ear. Did that count as a kiss, if he was that close?

###

Nero was thrown from a surprisingly peaceful dream by Raven shaking his shoulder. She was fully dressed and looked slightly on edge. "Come on." she whispered. "We've got to leave."

He nodded, sitting up. It was then he noticed her t-shirt, balled up and tossed into the corner. How had that gotten there?

**Present**

She had gotten taller, and… bigger. She was no longer the fragile, bird like child of the past. This shouldn't have surprised him- he had seen security camera footage of her fighting, after all. He had thought she would be a _challenge_ from that, but that was a joke.

Raven mumbled something into the couch cushion, shifting position slightly. _Hmmmph._ Furan thought, crossing his arms and staring down at her.

It was one thing to make a stupid mistake. It was another to make the exact same mistake twice.

Still, she seemed to be… dealing better than last time. Of course, anything would have been better than last time. If Anastasia had told him when she'd first gotten the idea for the Glasshouse that he'd also spend fifty percent of his time babysitting a suicidal twelve-year-old, perhaps he would have given her a different answer.

"Pietor?" Anastasia asked.

He sighed. "Sorry. Got distracted. Anyway, as I was saying, I've got her. She's in perfect condition- she wasn't expecting me and didn't put up much of a fight-"

"No sign of Nero?" Anastasia asked.

"No, nothing. She claims she got fired."

"I just don't see that happening." Anastasia said fretfully.

"I can, unfortunately. Because-"

Raven sat bolt upright, breathing hard. She was frozen for a split second, eyes darting back and forth across the room, before she grabbed the lamp from the end table and swung it wildly at Furan. He let the phone fall to the floor and reached out to catch it before she could do any damage. Raven lashed out with one hand as though trying to scratch his other eye out, but he released the lamp with a crash onto her feet.

Raven screamed in pain, and Furan took the opportunity to dive onto the couch and hold her down. "Calm yourself_._" he told her as he reached blindly for his cell phone. "Ana?"

"What the _hell_ is going on over there?" Anastasia demanded, furious.

"I'm going to have to call you back." Furan told her.

"Pie-"

He hung up, focusing back on Raven. "Under the circumstances, I'd suggest you stop trying to tear my face off. You're only going to cause yourself injury. Honestly, Natalya. Do you even _think-_"

"You're sitting on him." Raven blurted, her eyes still full of wild fight-or-flight instinct.

He looked down. Sure enough, his knee was resting across Raven's bump. Trying to resist the urge to make a sarcastic comment, he slid off her. "There. Is that better?"

"Yes." She was still sort of looking around, her breath coming in short gasps, but it was getting better.

"I'm sorry." he said cuttingly. "It's going to take some time to get used to you carting a planet around."

Finally, her eyes met his. Her hands found the hem of her nightgown, and she began to pull it up. "Do you want to feel?"

What?

Raven just keeps staring at him, so sighing, he placed a hand onto her slightly rounded stomach. "Sure. If it keeps you-"

Suddenly, something bumped against his hand, so quickly he could have imagined it. He knew he hadn't when Raven inhaled sharply, her face going pale.

"You're in pain?" he asked.

She shook her head stubbornly. _Of course she would say that._ he berated himself. _You taught her that any time she said yes, she was beaten._ "I need to know." he said again, squeezing her wrist a little tighter. _Come on…_

"No." she said again.

He slapped her. "Don't _lie_ to me. I can see it on your face, you worthless-"

"I'm fine." she said.

"Are you really so proud that you won't except help, even in… _this_ state?" he growled. "Listen, I'm perfectly fine with torturing two people instead of one. Now tell me the truth!"

"No!" she said, sitting up.

His hand closed around the knife in his pocket, and he brought it out just enough to let her see it glint. "What's the saying, an eye for an eye?"

Now she was silent, watching him. So he jammed it into one of those brilliant baby blues.

That was one thing that hadn't changed, her screams.

###

"Do Unto Others," the members of the council echoed as one by one the holographic images began to flicker and vanish, leaving Nero and Darkdoom alone.

"You have something to add, Max?" Darkdoom said, looking irritated.

"You realize how dangerous this could be, I assume?" Nero asked calmly.

"You seem pretty calm, considering the implications this has for _you._"

"Losing his resources will certainly be a blow, but I really don't see what that has to do with me personally." Nero said with a frown.

Darkdoom stared at him. "You don't know. Natalya is working directly under Drake. Was working. Considering her- and your- current situation-"

"But no one besides you and her know about that." Nero cut in smoothly. Inside, his brain was going a mile a minute. How could Raven's new employer have slipped his mind like that? Was his memory staring to go? Or had he just blocked it out, not wanting to think of how she'd left him?

"Raven will have had to tell him about the baby, and how long do you think it will take before people start connecting the dots?"

"What do you mean, connect the dots?" He was starting to get annoyed. "We weren't even together at the time- it was just a one-time event."

Darkdoom sighed loudly. "You are good at denial, aren't you? Who is the one person you can always trust to have your back in a crisis?"

"Natalya, but-"

"Who are you always constantly texting at boring meetings?"

"Natalya. How-"

"Who do you enjoy having James Bond movie marathons with?"

"Natalya, but-"

"Who is _carrying your first-born child?_"

"Are you trying to make a point?" Nero asked coldly.

"I don't know." Darkdoom said. He sounded frustrated. "Just call her, all right?"

Nero sighed. "I'll make it my first priority after this meeting. Is that all right with you?"

"Yes." Darkdoom snapped back. There was silence for a moment, then he said "Actually, there was something else I wanted to discus with you, which I suppose is vaguely connected to Drake… the Dreadnought has finished its shakedown mission and is ready for full deployment! So if you're passing our way, perhaps a tour is in order?"

"You and your toys." Nero said in mock exasperation. Right about now was the time that he and Raven would have shared a glance full of hidden messages, but of course, she wasn't present.

"The Dreadnought isn't a toy;" Darkdoom informed him, almost pouting, "it's one of the most sophisticated vehicles ever built and a vital part of the future of this organization."

_The future._ Meanwhile, what seemed to be unavoidably his future was currently thousands of miles away and still unable to breath outside his comfortable home.

"Of course it is." Nero said. "I think I will be able to arrange transportation. When we meet face to face, we'll need to discuss these developments in further detail, of course."

"Agreed." Darkdoom said, nodding. "I'll see you soon."

Darkdoom fizzled out of existence, leaving Nero alone in the conference room to panic. How could he have forgotten about Natalya's employment? He must have just not wanted to think about her working for someone other than him.

He forced himself to relax. If something was really wrong, Natalya would have contacted him. And it wasn't like he had gotten a ransom demand with the mail. She was probably fine.

###

"_Finally._" Anastasia grunted as he picked up the phone. "So, would you mind explaining to me-"

"She's pregnant." he told her. He squeezed the phone in between his shoulder and cheek as he washed the blood from his hands. "The dad's out of the picture. That's all she said before she passed out."

"Passed _out_?"

"I might have gotten a little carried away."

"Well, try not to. Stress on the mother isn't good for the child."

"You don't sound very surprised about this." he observed.

"I already knew. She's being seeing one of Drake's doctors, so I have access to all of her medical records." Anastasia said. She sounded kind of bored, which pissed him off. Maybe _she_ should come and play with Raven for once. "And yes, I have plans for her."

"You always have to have a plan, don't you." he said bitterly.

"Is there a _problem,_ Pietor?"Anastasia said icily.

"I don't even know why I'm telling you this." he snapped, half talking to himself. "I left. We're done."

"Mm." Anastasia said with obvious distaste. "I think the best thing to do is to let her go."

"Are you insane?" Pietor demanded. "Oh, wait." he added mockingly. "I forgot who I was talking to. The goddess of wisdom and battle. More like the goddess of rash decision-making and obsession-"

"I believe that you win the prize when it comes to rash decision-making." Anastasia cut in. "She's still strong enough to make trouble. Let her think she's gotten away- better yet, let her thing she's killed you, and then we'll swoop in and grab her when she's ready to pop."

"We?" Pietor growled. "There is no _we._"

"So you keep insisting. And yet somehow-"

"Shut up, Ana."

"Noted." she said.

"That's not shutting up." He set the knife down on the kitchen counter, running a hand through his hair. "I hate you."

"I hate you too, Petya."

He hung up, tucking the phone back into his pocket. He needed to make a decision quickly- of course, this was taking place right before the whole operation with Drake was scheduled to go down. Great.

He ducked into the bedroom and was relieved to find Raven still sleeping peacefully, handcuffed to his headboard. He couldn't just _leave_ her here. She might see something she wasn't supposed to and report it back to Nero. Oh! He had nearly forgotten…

Furan reached under the bed and pulled out a small white cardboard box barely bigger than a pack of playing cards. However, what it contained was far more precious. He pulled off the lid and plucked out the slender vial from where it lay in its nest of bubble wrap. He'd be needing that later.

He straightened up, turning back to Raven. Maybe he should just _kill_ her. She already knew too much, from his stupid little "family reunion" comment. One bullet and no more meddling Privet Natalya.

Yes… killing her really was the best option. Nero would be much easier to defeat without his closest ally. He sat down on the edge of the bed, gripping the knife in one hand. He was about to slit her throat when her eyes flew open. Unlike last time, she wasn't lost in some haze, but awake and alert and dangerous.

He started to move away but she kicked out with both feet, catching him in the stomach and throwing him backwards with a grunt. The knife fell from his hand and into Raven's waiting palm. She slid off the bed as he got to his feet. She must have been awake that whole time, just waiting for her opportunity to strike.

"I thought we'd concluded this was pointless by now?" Furan demanded, throwing a jab at her face. Raven only barely managed to block it, but doing so left her vulnerable to the blow to her ribs from his other fist. "Maybe you had a chance years ago, but you're soft now. You haven't had a worthy opponent in a long time, and it's made you slow."

She aimed a punch in retaliation, but even though Furan stayed perfectly still, she still missed by several feet. She was left off-balance, and he took advantage of this and caught her in the chin, sending her spinning backwards.

"Depth perception." he said mockingly. "Have fun with that."

Raven stared at him defiantly, then took a step backwards.

"I thought I taught you better than that, girl." Furan growled. "Never retreat. Attack is the best form of-"

She reached backwards and snatched a useless paperweight from his bedside table. He moved towards her as she hurled it at the ceiling light. There was a tinkle of breaking glass as darkness flooded the room. Struggling to see, Furan spun around, lashing out as he heard a whisper-quiet footfall. He began to move towards the door. "You're not getting out of here." he called. "It's your choice- you can join us, or you can die along with your pathetic friends."

Join them? Where had that come from? He didn't want her to _join_ them. That was ridiculous.

"Stop playing around." he taunted. "Are you really so pathetic that you have to resort to children's tricks to- _oooof._"

He fell backwards as her foot struck him squarely in the jaw. He tried to catch himself but only succeeded in slamming his head into the corner of the dresser. As he struggled to his feet, the door behind him swung open and Natalya's silhouette darted into the light.

By the time he was out of the room, she was by the door, his pistol pointed at his head as she fiddled with the lock, not even looking at him.

"It requires fingerprints to open." he snarled.

"That's a shame." Raven said, taking a step towards him. "I wonder who will hire you missing a hand _and _an eye."

"I wouldn't be so cocky." Furan said, smirking. "Even at full strength, you could never wound me."

"Then let's try this again." Raven said. She held up the vial of Animus between two fingers. "What exactly is this? It seems important."

Furan said nothing.

"What happens if I drop it?" Raven asked holding the vial away from her body.

"You would die a rather painful death." Furan said coldly. "Personally, I wouldn't advise it. But if you're feeling suicidal…"

Raven's lips tightened.

"Exactly." Furan said. "Now, why don't you just hand that back to me-"

"I don't think so." Raven said, flicking off the cap to the test tube. Furan tensed. Excellent. She really didn't know what she was doing. He had forgotten how stupid Natalya could be when she was desperate.

"You really want to put that down." Furan said, raising his hands.

Raven raised an eyebrow. "I'll put it down when you open the door."

He stared at her. Great. This was great. How had she even gotten it, anyway? Stupid pickpocket street kids. "I don't think you understand-"

"I can throw pretty far." she said. "I'm fairly certain I could get out of here before I was affected too… do you want to bet?

Goddamn it.

He walked forward and pushed Raven out of the way, then opened the door. "There. Now just give me-"

He winced in anticipation as out of the corner of his eye he saw the butt of his gun headed towards his jaw. _Anastasia had better thank me for this_ _later…_

###

Raven stood over Furan's unconscious body panting. She hadn't let him see, but their short battle had left her completely exhausted. And her back was _killing _her. She tucked the vial back into her pocket and headed towards the closet. She flipped through Pietor's coats. Strangely, most of them seemed to actually be designed for women. She grabbed a pink trench coat and a pair of boots and ventured out into the hallway.

Where was she going to go? The mysterious test tube seemed to grow hot in her pocket. Furan had seemed rather scared when she had threatened him with it. Perhaps it was some sort of new weapon?

_It could be important, _part of her insisted. It would be foolish not tell Nero about it. And he would probably want a sample. It would really be best if she just went straight back to H.I.V.E. Besides, she needed a new place to stay. It seemed like her apartment wasn't safe anymore.

Oh, who was she kidding? She just wanted an excuse to see Max again.

###

Otto braced himself for teasing as Shelby and Laura began clapping. Lucy seemed a little startled, then joined in with a smile on her face.

"You were all watching?" Otto asked.

"You're joking, aren't you?" Laura said. "I wouldn't have missed it for the world; it's the best show in town. I think it's the combination of comedy and intense violence that makes it such a winner."

"I made popcorn!" Shelby said, offering him a plastic bowl. "With movie-theater butter. It's still warm…"

"You two are friends, right?" Lucy asked with a shy smile on her face.

"We used to be," Otto said, "before we started these training sessions."

"Speaking of intense violence-" Shelby started, her words partially obscured by the popcorn in her mouth.

"Oh, this is going to be an interesting tangent." Laura muttered.

"Where the hell is Raven?" Shelby asked.

"I assumed she was on a mission." Wing said. "I really don't know."

"I mean, we're going to the Arctic in a couple of days." Shelby said. "And she's Russian, right? I thought she'd be all over this. I even asked Nero if she could chaperone our group-"

"Are you insane?" Otto asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, we're friends now." Shelby said.

"Friends?" Laura said.

"We went on a bunch of missions together!" Shelby said. "That's like getting pedicures together in our circles."

"Is Raven another student?" Lucy asked.

"She may have carried out your retrieval." Wing told her. "She is tall, about thirty or so years old and fights with a pair of twin katanas…?"

"I think Francisco called her "the crazy Russian woman" once." Shelby said.

"Aye, that was an interesting class…" Laura mused.

Lucy looked very confused. "I don't believe I met her."

"That's unusual." Wing said. "Ordinarily she organizes all- Otto?"

Otto was biting his lip, staring at his shoes.

"He knows something." Shelby hissed, grabbing the back of the chair and staring at Otto.

"Guys-" Otto started.

"Is she all right?" Wing asked.

Otto sighed. "Yeah."

There was silence for a moment.

"And...?" Laura prompted.

"And I have a feeling none of us is going to want to do homework when we return from the Arctic." Otto said. "So we might as well go and get a head start on it now."

Shelby groaned. "Otttttttooooooo?"

"Sorry." he said quietly. "I promised."

###

"And you say he seemed frightened of it?" Nero asked, leaning forward.

"Yes." Raven said. "I haven't dared opening the thing myself yet, but I think it may be a gas or maybe an acid? Whatever it was, it would probably be useful to take a look at."

"Well, we can't have you coming back here." Nero said. "Drake might still be tracking you. Hmmm…" He rubbed his forehead. "Let's see…. Darkdoom has invited me to visit his latest creation, the Dreadnought. Why don't you hitch a ride there and meet up with us?"

"When?"

"Tomorrow, I believe. I can always send someone to pick you up if it's too much trouble."

"I think I will be fine." Raven said.

"Good." He yawned. He had been just about to get into bed when Raven had called to inform him of this latest development. He had a feeling there was more then she was telling him, as the idea of Drake just leaving a potentially dangerous tool lying around was a little far-fetched. But that could wait.

He heard the rustle of blankets, and then a hiss of pain. "You aren't injured?"

"Nothing serious." Raven said quickly.

"And the, er, child. Is it... _he_ okay?"

"There haven't been any changes." Raven responded.

"That's... good."

"Yes." Raven souded a little annoyed. "And someone's sent me a lovely blanket." More rustling. "It's very soft."

"Only the best." he said, trying to keep the conversation light. "And, um, I've been thinking about names..."

"Are you sure?" Raven asked. "Naming anything leads to attachment."

"I thought you wanted me to get attached." Nero said a little hotly.

"Fine." Raven said icily. "That's great."

"I was thinking-"

"We can talk tomorrow." she interrupted, then hung up.

He set down his Blackbox. _Oh, Natalya._ he thought. _Whatever are we going to do with you?_


	6. Chapter 6

Somehow, he honestly didn't expect Raven to look so _ordinary_. From the way her voice always seemed on the verge breaking of during their phone calls, he expected her to be perpetually red-eyed and dressed in her preferred form of loungewear, but she appeared just as pulled together as ever. The only difference was that instead of her jumpsuit, she was dressed in a blue sweater and grey leggings. Was she _trying_ to emphasize her bump? It was starting to get pretty noticeable now, and for a few seconds that was all he could look at. _Hello, there._ he thought, feeling himself begin to smile. What had Raven called it… him? Something in Russian…

She was talking to Diabolus as he and the students disembarked. As they grew closer, she turned back towards him and he frowned. One of her eyes was covered by a flesh-colored eye-patch. What was _that_ supposed to mean? Was she playing pirates?

"Sir." she said, nodding. Her one visible eye was steely with anger. He longed to ask her what was going on but didn't want to show his ignorance in front of the children.

"Natalya." he said. "You look lovely."

"Good afternoon, Doctor Nero." Diabolus said, shaking Nero's hand. "And I see you brought some of my favorite students with you. Hello, Nigel."

"Hello, Father." Nigel said to his shoes.

"I'm afraid they cannot stay for long. They are in transit to a training exercise-"

"Oh, but surely there's time to show them around a bit!" Diabolus cut in. "After all, they are the future of our organization. They should be able to see for themselves what we're capable of."

Knowing it was pointless to argue, Nero gave in with a sigh. "I suppose a short tour can do no harm." he said.

Darkdoom smiled. _Here we go._ Nero thought, following after him as his friend took off with the air of a highly-experienced tour guide. He easily fell into step beside Raven. "Another scar to add to the list?" he asked quietly.

"I had a bit of a run in with Pietor Furan." Raven said, as though they were discussing the weather.

"And?" he asked a little testily.

She crossed her arms. "That was really about it. However, he did make an interesting comment about a "family reunion" that I wasn't sure how to interpret."

"Did he manage to deduce your condition?" he asked, hating the element of nervousness in his voice.

She raised an eyebrow. "I'm five months in, Max. It's fairly obvious at this point. His reaction was mostly disgust, though. More bullsh… crap about how I've gotten soft. He didn't fight too hard to keep me there after he found out. It was almost as though he was in a hurry to get rid of me."

"He obviously doesn't consider you very desirable anymore." Nero mused. "He practically maimed you."

"I can still fight." Raven said coldly.

"Of course." Nero reassured her. "But we don't want you anywhere near the battlefield for another four months, don't we?"

He reached out to put a hand on her shoulder, but Raven stepped aside. He frowned. "Natalya, I'm trying to make up for-"

"I gave you a chance." she said, her lips tight. "You made your position very clear. I'm not going to allow myself to get burned again."

"Burned? I didn't-"

Darkdoom coughed, and Nero looked away from Raven to find Otto's little group staring at them. He stepped away from Raven. "This certainly is an impressive construction, Diabolus. Thank you for taking the time to show us around, but some of us must be going. Natalya, please escort the students back to the ship."

Raven turned away from him, beckoning to Otto. As she walked away, Darkdoom turned to Nero. "What did you _say_ to her? You could practically feel the hatred radiating off her."

Nero winced. "I may have been a bit… colder than necessary. Of course, she is making everything more complicated in her stubbornness." He quickly changed the subject before Darkdoom could add anything more. "One thing the Dreadnought does make clear though is how much we depend on Drake for resources. It may be almost impossible without-"

"You worry too much, Max." Darkdoom said. "There are plenty of other arms manufactures in the world, and I don't expect it will be too hard to find one whose interests are served by becoming part of our organization."

"I suppose so." Nero said. "But imagine the damage that could be done with this sort of device in a set of hands that aren't so friendly. Drake is too dangerous to allow to do as he pleases, especially with the rest of the council in turmoil like this. An example must be made of him, and quickly."

"I'm well aware of that." Darkdoom said. "The simplest course of action would be for me to borrow Raven but I don't think that's really a-"

"You heard her earlier. She'll be fine." Nero said, his voice betraying no emotion.

"Are you sure?"

"She's a capable individual even with this considerable handicap. She is yours to command." _Although why you'd want to is beyond me._

Darkdoom gave Nero a long look. "Well, all right. I-"

"I've got something strange here, sir." said one of the bridge crew, spinning around in his chair to face them.

"What is it?" Darkdoom asked, hurrying over to the man's station with Nero close behind.

"A large number of radar contacts directly above us, but they're tiny." the man replied.

"It couldn't be birds." Nero said. "We're far too high up for that."

"Perhaps some sort of weapons system." Darkdoom mused. "Does it match any existing profile?"

"No, sir, and at their current rate of descent they will reach our altitude in forty-five seconds."

Darkdoom frowned. "Give me visual." The large display screen on the wall of the bridge lit up, and Darkdoom squinted at the swarm of dark shapes for a moment, then said "Whatever they are, I don't like it. Activate defensive-weapon systems."

"Yes, sir." another man said, typing furiously on the keyboard in front of in. "Targets in range in three… two…"

_Shit._ Nero thought as he watched the black blobs simultaneously grow wings and zip away in all different directions. "I'm calling Natalya, although if she has any sense left she'll be on her way already." he said as the heavy machine guns that formed the last line of anti-missile defense opened fire. "We need to get you out of here. Where are the security teams?"

"There are none." Darkdoom replied. "They were due to come aboard tomorrow. We've been running with a skeleton crew to minimize the risk of casualties-"

"Hostile forces on multiple decks." one of the Dreadnought's bridge crew reported.

Darkdoom sighed. "Whoever has launched this attack cannot know you're here. Just get yourself and the children out of this. I will stay and fight."

He thought about arguing, but knew it was pointless. "Rest assured I will find whoever is responsible for this."

"Of course you will." Darkdoom said with a nod. "And I pity them when you do."

###

The instant she heard the gunfire, she felt her training take over. She halted. They were only a couple of yards from the hangar, and it was unlikely the attackers would reach the Shroud before the children did. Still, she hated to leave them unsupervised…

"What's going on?" Otto demanded, snapping her out of her thoughts.

She removed one of the handguns from her thigh and tossed it to Trinity. "Fanchu, come with me. The rest of you, get to the Shroud. Lock the hatch and don't let anyone in but me. Stay absolutely silent."

"Something's wrong?" Trinity asked.

"We're under attack." she said matter-of-factly. "I'm going after Nero and Darkdoom. Now go."

She took off at a sprint, Wing following close behind. It irked her that she couldn't run quite as fast as before, but it should be sufficient-

She ducked into a corner, dragging Wing beside her as footsteps reached her ears. Three men wearing black military equipment and carrying assault rifles rounded the corner, obviously professionals. She reached down the front of her sweater and removed a knife, gesturing for Wing to stay put. She flicked on the purple force field as the men approached. She had left her katanas behind, but they hardly expected her to wade into what could quickly become a battleground completely defenseless.

She darted out and rammed the knife into the first man's back, ripping the rifle from his hands as he fell, howling in pain. She opened fire. The second man didn't have a chance, but the third barely managed to jump out of the way and returned with bullets of his own. She avoided them easily and ran towards him when another round from his fallen companion forced her to duck awkwardly. One of the bullets grazed her side, and she gritted her teeth but still managed to take down the last man. She turned to the third, only to find Wing quietly lowering him to the floor.

"Nice work." Once again, she found herself out of breath. "We-"

"Time to go." Nero said, appearing from behind her. She allowed herself a sigh of relief, scooping up one of the rifles and tossing it to him. For once, he did not protest.

"The others are back at the Shroud?" he called as they ran.

"They should be." she gasped in reply.

He frowned. "Are you all right?"

"Yes… fine…"

He frowned worriedly. She was lying through her teeth, that much was obvious. Thankfully, soon the hangar doors were in sight and they hadn't met any opposition-

"On your left!" Nero yelled as movement registered in the corner of his eye. Wing turned and fired a short burst at the men who had suddenly appeared from a side hallway, but it had little effect. Turning back to the hangar, Nero frowned when he saw students- hadn't Raven told them to stay inside the Shroud. "GET IN NOW!" he yelled, looking over his shoulder and nearly dropping Raven.

"Doctor Nero!" Wing bellowed as another group of soldiers materialized from a corner of the hangar and opened fire. Nero reacted without thinking, seizing Raven's arm and dragging her out in front of him. She screamed as she took the bullets meant for him, but before she could crumple he seized her under the armpits and dragged her the last few feet, guilt and fear twisting in his stomach. _At least she was alive._ he thought desperately as he bounded up the ramp. But at the same time, Raven didn't ordinarily scream when injured…

He bounded up the ramp and smacked the red button on the bulkhead. "Get the medical kit, apply pressure." he ordered Wing. "Malpense, with me!"

Nero quickly climbed the ladder to the flight deck, Otto right on his heels. He collapsed into the pilot's seat and started punching buttons. "Get the doors open." he snapped at Otto. Nero did not watch the boy, instead pulling at the joystick and turning the now-hovering Shroud toward the hangar doors. "Otto?"

"Got it!" Otto yelled. The doors began to slide apart. He waited as long as he could, then pushed hard on the throttle control. He breathed a sigh of relief as they shot through the gap with only inches to spare, but Nero was already hurrying down the ladder to the passenger compartment to find Wing staring helplessly at Raven's body.

"What are you doing?" he said, grabbing the kit from his hands. His instructions had been simple enough-

He finally looked down. Raven's entire midsection seemed to have been transformed into a swirling mass of black tendrils, and she was screaming, her back arching in agony. He didn't do anything- what was there for him to do? "I'm so sorry…" he whispered hopelessly, reaching for the rifle and leveling it at her forehead. "I-"

And then all of the sudden it was over, and she sat up, breathing hard. Her clothes had been torn to shreds, but she seemed to be somehow uninjured. He set down the rifle. "Natalya?"

"My heart stopped." she said. It was less of a question and more of a fact. Her hands moved to her chest. "I felt it stop."

"You're all right." he said, trying to give her a reassuring smile. She did not return it.

"The… the sample from Furan. It was in my pocket. It must have shattered." she said, glancing around at the area. "But I don't see any trace of it."

"It seems to have been absorbed into your body." Wing said quietly. "After… healing you somehow."

Raven nodded. She gave Nero a long look that meant _we will talk about this later_, then got to her feet. She let out a pained gasp as blood immediately began to ooze from a wound in her thigh. "Pass me the gauze." she ordered, limping over to the seat. "Everyone else uninjured?"

There was a chorus of "yeahs" from the others as they began finding seats. Raven gazed around at the pale faces around her. _God, soon I'm going to have one of my own…_ Her heart lurched. Little One. She had completely forgotten about him in the chaos. Her hands flew to her belly. _Please, just kick. Go ahead, beat the shit out of me like you love to do. Just please, don't let me lose you too…_

"Is something wrong?" Trinity asked, raising an eyebrow.

Nero opened his mouth, but Raven beat him to it. If the children knew, that was four times as many people looking after her. "I'm expecting, actually." she said quietly.

The reaction was immediate. Trinity gasped. Wing moved towards her as if to shield her from any further assaults. Otto stared down at his shoes, and Brand blushed and looked excited.

"It looks like we're going to have to make a slight unscheduled diversion." Nero said, cutting into the gaping silence.

"Yeah, what the hell happened back there?" Trinity demanded, now completely distracted from Raven.

"I think it would be best to wait on explanation until we reach the safehouse." Nero said, turning towards the ladder. "All I will say for now is that we should be safe."

"What about my dad?" Darkdoom asked.

"He has been captured." Nero said carefully. "But we will get him back. Our first priority though, is returning you safely back to H.I.V.E."

Brand groaned, leaning her head back against the seat.

"Oh, yes." Nero said, smiling slightly. "I believe we should still have time to get you all back to the training exercise where you belong. Now if you excuse me, I need to go run a couple of checks…"

He ducked up back the ladder, and the children re-swarmed around Raven.

"How far in are you?" Trinity asked.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" asked a black-haired girl Raven didn't recognize.

"Who's the dad?" demanded Otto.

"Five months, boy, that's none of your concern." She opened the medical kit to remove a syringe, tore off the plastic cap with her teeth and then jammed it into her leg just above the wound.

"Will you be returning to the school?" Wing asked quietly.

She glanced up at him. "Most likely not. I apologize for not giving you advanced notice, but things didn't play out the way I would have liked and I needed to make a quick decision. I suppose you will have to find another teacher." As she spoke, she began to bandage her leg, with careful, precise movements as though she had done it a thousand times before. She probably had.

"He's been teaching me." Otto butted in.

Raven nodded, standing up. "I need to speak with Doctor Nero." she said firmly. "You may as well get settled, as we most likely have several hours' journey ahead of us."

Nero was sitting in the pilot's chair, and he didn't look up as she approached. She coughed to make her presence known. He said "How is your leg?"

"The bullet went straight through." she said, sitting down beside him. "I've had far worse, as you well know."

"Indeed." he said. "I assume you'll have any other medical supplies you need at the safe house?"

"No." she said. "I need to get to a hospital as soon as possible."

"Are you sure that's necessary?"

God, she wanted to whack that smug look right off his face. "Yes. I need confirmation that it didn't hurt Little- our son."

"Right, I had forgotten." He swiveled in his chair to face her, leaning back. "The substance. Can you describe it in more detail?"

"When it was in the test tube it looked like… Jell-O, really." she said. "There isn't much to tell."

"And it… for want of a better word, attacked you after making contact with your skin?"

"Yes, spreading unnaturally fast." Raven said.

Nero nodded. "Did Pietor say anything that might hint at the substance's purpose?"

"All he said was that it would cause me "a rather painful death"." she said thoughtfully. "But that obviously didn't happen." Her expression clouded. "Speaking of which, what the he- _heck_ were you playing at?"

He refused to meet her eye. "I reacted without thinking."

Raven narrowed her eye. "I will fight for you." she hissed. "I would take a bullet for you in an instant. But I am _not_ your human shield. Do you get that?"

"Of course I do." Nero snapped. "Do not think for a second that I don't regret my actions. I care about you very much and-"

"What?" Raven said, tilting her head slightly.

"I said I care about you very much." Nero said.

She stared at him. "Perhaps you pretend so when it suits you." she said finally. "Well, I'm tired of your hypocrisy."

"Yes, because leaving worked for you so _very_ well last time."

"If you stop ignoring me, maybe I won't have to resort to running away to get you to notice me."

"I notice you."

"Please. You barely know that I'm female."

"What, you want me to stare at your breasts every time you pass like the guards do?"

"Not all of them." Raven snapped. "Some of them are quite nice."

"How quaint. You're making friends."

"Jealous, much?"

"I am not jealous. Anyway, I am aware that you're attractive, I've just been desensitized to it."

"Desensitized."

"Yes."

She shook her head. "You are a piece of work."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

She snorted, turning to leave. To his relief, she was only limping very slightly.

"Don't be stubborn, Natalya." Nero said, reaching out of grab her arm. "I'm trying my best here."

"Trying?" Raven's hands were against her stomach again. The gesture was sort of adorable, in an annoying way. "If this is trying…"

"I don't understand what you want from me." Nero said coldly.

"It's not a particularly complicated concept to comprehend." she snapped, brushing her hair back behind one ear. "I need you to take care of me. And my son."

"That's not generally how our relationship works." Nero said cautiously.

"You're the one who went and bloody kissed me." she spat.

"It's hardly my fault you're ridiculously easy to get into bed."

She clenched her jaw, gently stroking her belly.

"I'm sorry." Nero said quietly. "I didn't mean that." She was going to cry. He wasn't sure exactly what was going to happen regarding him once the tears started falling, but some innate sense told him that it would be disastrous.

She glared at him.

"It's not as though you fully trust me either." Nero snapped back. He was supposed to be comforting her. What was he doing? "Your entire past is still hidden from me, at your demand. You wouldn't even let me see your scars."

"Excuse me for not exposing my entire heart for you to step on at your convenience."

"I'm not going to _step_ on… don't…don't _do_ that…Natalya, I… I'm sorry… I… just come here."

Raven didn't make any noise when she cried, but her whole body trembled. And she was _heavy._ He shifted in the chair, trying to get comfortable.

_We could be like this. For the rest of our lives, however long that may be._ He gently rested his chin on her head. "Mmm…"

"What?" she asked.

"Your shampoo."

"Yes."

She also smelled very faintly of blood.

"I can't tell you." she said quietly.

"Hm? Oh."

"I can't look you in the face and tell you those things. I'm sorry."

"If it makes you uncomfortable, I've survived this long without knowing. I believe I can make it another few years." He shifted again. "Can you stand on your own now? My leg is asleep."

She sighed. "Yes, Max. In a minute."

###

"You told her."

Furan sighed. "Not necessarily. I gave her a clue. I don't know if she's intelligent enough to decipher it on her own."

"You know how she gets around me. Besides, the girl isn't stupid, only misguided. Don't you remember how fast she picked up English?"

"That was only because I bribed her with Disney movies."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. Did you miss the part where she sang _Once Upon a Dream _under her breath for four days straight?"

"Mmm…" She was quiet for a second. "_Her_ tapes, I assume?"

"No one uses them now, Ana."

"God, she _hoarded _those." Anastasia murmured. "And even though she never let us watch, we always had to play with here… remember how she always made me be the evil queen?"

"Fitting, isn't it?" he said softly.

"What, that she got to be the princess and get her happily ever after I fell to my death?" she said coldly.

"I feel like we're talking about different people now." he said warily. "Ana-"

"Don't worry, Pietor." she said. "I have it all under control."

He could have sworn her mutter "she makes an awful princess anyway" before she hung up.

**Nero's reaction to Raven crying… is like the most entertaining thing ever. XD**

**I think I shall go draw Raven in princess costumes now. I was actually deprived of all Disney movies during childhood, but lately my friend has been forcing me to watch them so I threw this in here.**

**Please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

They arrived in New York just as a gentle blanket of light began spreading across the city. Nero let out a sigh of relief as they landed gently in a loading area behind an empty warehouse. He descended the ladder, ordering "We must move quickly."

He watched as Raven and the others disembarked, then quickly reentered the cockpit and punched a complicated series of commands into the dropship's autopilot. Hopefully it would be able to make it off shore before the fuel ran out and would crash into the ocean, destroying any evidence that it had ever existed.

The others were already to the gate as he jogged down the loading ramp to meet them. He was relieved to see that Raven was walking almost normally. At some point during the ride, she had stolen his coat and now it was draped across her shoulders like a blanket, which was pretty cute.

"The safe house is about a block east of here." Raven said as she opened the gate. "Unfortunately, we aren't the most inconspicuous group, so moving quickly is essential."

The others followed after her. Part of him wanted to stay by her side, but the rest of him knew that would only lead to more arguments. So he stayed behind the children, making sure none of them wandered off as they were so prone to doing.

Soon they arrived at a flight of stairs that led down from the pavement to an old, battered wooden door. Raven slid a loose brick from beside the doorway, revealing a small keypad. She quickly entered in the code, and the door clicked open.

"Make yourselves at home." Raven called as the students entered the room, staring around as though they were at a museum. "Just don't touch anything till I've disabled the booby traps."

She was going to make _such_ a lovely mother.

"Oh, don't worry." she said offhandedly as she began pulling the covers off the equipment lining the walls of the room. "They're nonlethal… mostly."

Wait a minute, she didn't have any booby traps. Right? He crossed the room carefully and whispered "I wasn't aware-"

"Of course not." she said, then smiled. "But it worked, didn't it?"

Nero smiled, reaching for the next cover before she could grab it. "You should be resting." he told her sternly.

"With all due respect, I feel perfectly fine."

"There might be internal bleeding from your injuries." Nero insisted. "We don't know if the mystery substance healed you completely, after all. And of course there's the matter of him…"

Her eyes narrowed slightly, then filled with tears. Unsure of how to react, he turned away and pulled off another dust cover. Raven sank down onto a camp bed, eyes closed.

"Malpense, there should be Top Ramen or something in that cupboard to your left." she called without looking. "Can you toss some over here?"

"Oh come on, we're in New York." Trinity whined. "And we're all accustomed to the food at the school- which by the way is delicious, no complaints, Dr. N, but-"

"I will pass on the compliments to the chef." Nero said, smiling. "There may be time to acquire something more suited to your tastes-"

"Pizza." Trinity interrupted. "I would like pizza. With extra cheese."

"-pizza before we leave. Now, come and sit down."

They obediently gathered, perching on the camp bed opposite Raven. Of course, they didn't all fit, and after some pushing and general squabbling, Wing finally stood up and came to sit beside her.

"Um?" Brand said, anxiously raising her hand.

"Yes?" Nero asked.

"What happened onboard the Dreadnaught, exactly?" Brand asked timidly.

"And what happened to my dad?" Darkdoom added.

"Something very unfortunate." Nero said carefully. "And Diabolus has been captured, but rest assured that this entire situation will be rectified very shortly."

"Isn't there anything we can do to help?" Otto asked (a little too eagerly, in Raven's opinion).

"While I appreciate the enthusiasm, this is a job definitely meant for more experienced operatives." Wing opened his mouth, but Nero continued before he could say anything. "While this group has… adequate familiarity with life-threatening situations, that doesn't necessarily mean you are ready to take on the roles of professionals."

There was a groan from Trinity, but many of the other children looked slightly relieved. Raven broke the silence, letting out an "oh!" of surprise.

"Is something wrong?" Nero asked, leaning towards her.

"No, he's just kicking again." Raven said, her mouth slowly curling into a smile. She whispered something in Russian under her breath, then seemed to realize all the others were staring at her. She stood abruptly, crossing the room to the desk in the corner. As though it was some sort of signal, the children clustered into a group on the opposite side of the room and began talking in hushed voices.

Nero walked over towards Raven. "What have you got there?"

"The last known location of the Dreadnought." she said. "It was fairly simple to track. While she is invisible to outsiders, the Zeus Sphere is not exactly subtle."

"That's a relief." Nero said, reaching out to put a hand on her shoulder. Raven flinched slightly, but continued.

"About an hour ago, they appeared to switch to thermoptic camouflage. But keeping the cloak up indefinitely would place far too great of a strain on the power core to make it a viable option. They must have a maintenance facility somewhere, most likely the same place where it was constructed." She pushed the keyboard away, setting her hands on her lap. "Unfortunately, Drake isn't stupid. Any records concerning the construction of the Dreadnaught have been wiped from our central database."

"Of course." He frowned. "But he would keep a copy somewhere, wouldn't he? It's impossible to keep all records of a project on this scale completely buried."

"Yes, most likely on the servers at Drake Industries, whose head office just happens to be located in this very city." Raven said. "If we can get in, we may be able to find out where the Dreadnaught was build, and therefore, where, in all likelihood, it is being hidden."

"It's really sexy when you talk like that." Nero said softly.

"Can we focus, please?" Raven said, glaring at him.

"Of course, sorry." He ran through a couple of scenarios in his head, then said "Don't contact the council. It will take too long to assemble a team, and even then there is the issue of who to trust. We need to do this now, and while I wish there was another way, we really do have exactly what- and who- we need right here."

"Otto." Raven murmured.

"Exactly." Nero said with a nod. "Try and see if you can get the schematics of the building. Find a way to get Malpense and I into it undetected."

"Max-"

"You need to rest." he repeated. "I may have shifted my focus lately, but I haven't completely lost my edge. There's no need to make that face."

"I'm not making a face."

"Yes, you are." he said, setting down his other hand and resting his chin on top of her head.

Raven sighed. "Max, I don't want the children to see."

"Of course." he said, quickly moving away from her.

"You should take Fanchu with you, though." Raven said, biting her lip thoughtfully. "It might be useful, having someone to watch your back."

She still sounded rather frightened at the prospect of letting him out of her sight. He took her hand and gave it a squeeze. "It really will be okay, Natalya."

"You had better go and pick up less conspicuous clothes for the three of you." Raven said, refusing to look at him. "And while you're at it, can you bring back some food for the rest of us? I'm famished."

"Of course I will. Do you want anything in particular?" he asked.

"Anything is fine."

"Are you sure? Don't you have… cravings?"

"Yes, but it doesn't matter."

"It's a simple enough thing. I might as well-" Panic flooded him as Raven's face suddenly tightened in pain. "Natalya! What's the matter? A-are you in labor?!"

"No." she said quickly, brushing off his attempts to comfort her. "It just hurts when he moves. And he loves listening to your voice, so it's been happening a lot just now."

"Oh." He filed away that tidbit for later contemplation, and went straight back into panic mode. "But it's not supposed to do that, is it? When I was researching none of the websites said-"

"You did research?"

"Of course I did." he said exasperatedly. "But are you okay?"

Her face compressed again. Uh-oh, he had found a painful subject.

"I've been… damaged." she said carefully. "So I'm more sensitive than the average mother. It's really not a big deal."

He regarded her for a second. "Are you sure? And what do you mean, damaged?"

Raven's tell was fairly simple if you knew where to look- she always shifted her weight to her right foot when she was lying. She did this now as she said. "Oh, you know, I've been shot enough times that eventually it had to happen."

More staring. He knew he shouldn't press her… but at the same it was going to constantly bother him if he didn't ask. Suddenly, a terrifying thought struck him. "It wasn't from when we first met… was it?"

"No." Raven said hurriedly. She stood up and walked across the room to where a small safe was mounted on the wall. She punched in the combination, and the safe swung open to reveal large piles of money in each of the world's most significant currencies, tossing a stack of twenty-dollar bills to Nero. "Don't spend it all at once."

"Thank you, my dear." he said, tucking the money into his jacket. "I won't be long. In the meantime, try and contact the school, but make sure not to give them our exact location. Just the city will do."

"Understood." Raven said with a nod. "I'll see if I can't find some tools to help you and the boys with your mission."

He nodded back. Shoving one hand into his pocket, he said. "Would you mind stepping outside for a minute? There are some things I want to talk to you about."

Without a word, she opened the door and gestured for him to follow her. He leaned against the wall of the safe-house and took a deep breath. Raven's nose was already turning pink from the cold, and she tapped her foot impatiently as he struggled for the right words.

"I'm not sure how to say this." he began awkwardly.

Raven muttered something under her breath that might have possibly been "well, this is going to be good." He chose to ignore her and plunged onward.

"I've come to realize… that I might have been a bit hasty in my initial decision." he said carefully.

Raven said nothing.

"I've been thinking," Nero said quietly, "that maybe it would be advantageous if you came back to the school."

"Why?"

"It will be safer for both you and our child." Nero said firmly.

"That's the only reason?" she said, a smirk curling across her face.

"Possibly."

"Oh, you." she muttered, looking down at her toes.

He leaned forward to kiss one pink cheek. Raven gave him a careful hug. "Have fun." she said softly. "And be careful."

"Of course." Nero said quietly. "I'll be right back."

###

All Raven had tried to do was rest her eyes for a second, but when she was gently shaken awake by Nero she knew her changing body had thwarted her again. She stood up, still half-lost in a haze.

"Have you got everything prepared?" Nero probed gently.

"Yes." she said, gesturing to a table in the corner with various pieces of equipment laid out across it's surface. Drawn like moths to a flame, Otto, Trinity and Wing were standing around it, the black haired girl hovering at Otto's shoulder.

"Mr. Malpense, Mr. Fanchu, a moment of your time please." Nero called. Otto jumped, and Trinity scowled, somehow sensing that whatever was going to happen next wasn't going to involve her, or at least not in the capacity that she desired.

"I require your assistance, gentlemen," Nero continued (Raven resisted the urge to snort). "I'm sure you both already have deduced that it is critical we regain control of the Dreadnaught if we want to reunite with Diabolus, and Raven and myself believe there may be a simple solution to determining it's location. You see, the assault on the Dreadnought was orchestrated by a man called Jason Drake, the CEO of Drake Industries, which just so happens to have its main headquarters located right in this very city. The three of us will try to gain access to their central mainframe, where you, Mr. Malpense, may be able to acquire the location of wherever the Dreadnought is docked."

"It seems unlikely that Drake would store that information within the network of his legitimate front company." Otto said doubtfully.

"Of course." Nero replied, "however if the Dreadnought is being concealed at the installation where it was built, as we have reason to believe it is, there may be some evidence of the construction of that facility still hidden on their servers."

"Ghost data." Otto said.

Raven nodded. "If we- or, more specifically, you- can put those traces together, it's conceivable that we can discover where Darkdoom is being held. The only person able to extract the information quickly enough is you, and we need to stop Drake now as it is highly likely that his previous attack was only the beginning of a much larger and more dangerous plan." Raven smiled, gesturing to the equipment on the table. "To put it bluntly, we're taking the direct approach."

###

There was not time for a long, sentimental goodbye, especially with all the children watching. All she could manage before Max slipped out the door was a vague "Be careful" before the contents of her stomach decided that they weren't satisfied with their current location. She barely made it to the bathroom before she was sick.

Part of her felt like crying, but the rest of her managed to stagger out of her ruined boots and collapse against the door. She had barely run ten feet but shards of ice seemed to have materialized in her lungs, making inhaling and exhaling a chore. She wiped her mouth and leaned her head back with a sigh, her hands coming to rest over her stomach as they always did.

_Nero will be all right._ she told herself. _The only reason you're twitchy is because the last time the two of you were separated for a few minutes, he went and got himself captured._

The black-haired girl's face appeared in the doorway. "Are you all right?"

"Yes." Raven said firmly. The girl turned to go. "You're new to the school, aren't you?" she called quickly after her. "What's your name?"

"Lucy Dexter." the girl answered. Raven frowned. She didn't know anyone with a matching surname, and yet there was an uncanny familiarness about Dexter's face.

"And how are you liking it so far?" Raven asked.

Dexter looked uncomfortable. "It's a bit-"

There was a quiet beeping, and Raven forced herself to her feet, which nearly made her vomit again. Scanning the room, she quickly saw the flashing red light that signified that the motion sensors in the sewer exit had just been triggered. Raven crossed the room to pull of the camera feed, simultaneously scrambling for some sort of ace up her sleeve. A quick examination of the outside of the safe house revealed a similarly equipped group of men emerging from a van parked directly outside.

"Everyone over here now!" Raven barked with surprising strength. The students seemed just as startled at her outburst, but quickly complied as she slid four heavy bolts across the cover to the sewer entrance.

"What's going on?" Darkdoom asked.

"We're about to… receive some… uninvited guests." Raven panted as she flipped the heavy metal table onto this side. "Stay behind there." she ordered.

She crossed the room once again, this time heading towards the switch on the wall. She swatted at it with one hand, sending the room into darkness. A tiny sound sent the hairs on the back of her neck prickling as a breaching charge attached to the front door. Crouching besides the switch, she pressed her hands over her ears. Suddenly, she felt six years old again, crouched in the closet besides Sasha, as though the shadows could shield her from monsters both real and imaginary.

The explosive bang of the breaching charge sent her lurching forward, followed by the concussive shocks of at least two stun grenades which Little One did not like _at all._ Gritting her teeth against the pain, she counted to three in her head, then quickly flicked the light switch back on, grabbing one of the purloined rifles from the Dreadnought.

The overhead lights flared to life, overloading the night-vision goggles of the three men entering the room. Taking advantage of their temporary blindness, Raven fired, sending one of the men to the floor in a pool of blood. Bending down, she slid a stun grenade from his belt with each hand, popping the pins simultaneously and hurling them into the midst of the remaining men still outside the room. A single kick sent the door slamming shut in their faces.

The two men still inside seemed to have recovered, and the more intelligent of the pair tore his mask off. Raven dropped low, sending one fist into his belly as her other foot made contact with the other man's ankle with a satisfying crunch. She gasped in pain as the impact sent a shock through her injured leg, staggering backwards. _Oh god, I am going to throw up again. _The man whose ankle she'd just broken collapsed with a yelp, but the other threw himself at her. Apparently the body armor he was wearing had protected him from her blow and she had just revealed her weak spot. _Damn it all._ Raven thought furiously as he punched her hard, landing right by the wound in her thigh. She suddenly found herself unable to stand, falling on to one knee.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a blur of movement, but she was entirely focused on the man advancing on her now. Her arms flew out to hold the rifle over Little One, but before he could reach her the blond thief tapped the man on the shoulder, then promptly punched him squarely in the face. But Raven barely had time to get back on her feet before she was thrown backwards by an enormous explosion engulfing the hatch. She felt her head slam against the table with a thunk, and closed her eyes just as more stun grenades detonated. A high-pitched ringing echoed through her ears, amplified by the pain in her head and she struggled to sit up, tears of agony and frustration leaked from her eyes. Then strong arms wrapped around her waist, and suddenly she wasn't six, she was eleven, her wrists shredded beyond repair and staining the pretty blue tile of the bathroom floor scarlet. As the memory came fully into focus, she lashed out, a scream clawed its way up her throat, but a familiar voice whispered "Silence, girl." in Ukrainian and then a well-placed finger sent her into darkness.

###

She drifted in and out of consciousness. She was warm, and dry, but her hair as damp and twisted into a bun, the pins jamming into her scalp. She tried to reach up and remove them, but her hand didn't seem to want to respond to her commands.

"Don't fall off the bed, stupid girl." muttered a voice, and someone gave her a gentle push.

She tried to come back with a sassy retort, but instead just moaned. There was a soft chuckle, and then something brushed against her cheek.

###

The second time she woke up, she was lying on cool concrete, and a shoe nudging her face. She opened her eyes and sat up, trying to hide her disorientation from whoever was standing above her.

"Hello." said a partially familiar voice.

She blinked. The world was spinning uncomfortably, and she somehow couldn't identify the person standing in front of her, even though she knew they had met before.

"You're a pretty one, aren't you?" he said, kneeling down. "You should spend less time hiding in the shadows."

She stared blankly at him, unsure of what to do.

"I'm Jason Drake." he said, reaching down to grab her wrists and pulled her to her feet.

"I know." she managed. There was a painful ringing in her ears that made it difficult to stay on her feet. She leaned back against the wall, trying to remember what was going on.

The next thing she knew, his mouth was pressed against hers. She tried to fight back, but gave up after only a second. Closing her eyes made everything better, so she did that and let herself relax as Drake's hands slipped up the back of her shirt.

"Hey." said a cold voice. Raven opened her working eye to see Furan staring daggers at Drake, his mouth twisted into a snarl. Drake abruptly let go of her, and Raven sat down, leaning her head back against the wall and closing her eyes again. She heard the door to the room slam shut, and then a hand gripped her shoulder.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Furan demanded. "Weren't you going to fight back?"

She said nothing.

"A concussion again, I suspect." Furan said with a sigh. "Well, you can stay here and rot for all I care."

Raven licked her lips and took a deep breath. Suddenly all she could smell was blood, and she was either going to pass out, throw up, or both. Furan leaned forward to catch her shoulders as she pitched forward. "Whoa there." he murmured. "You really aren't doing so hot, are you?"

"Mm." Raven grunted.

Furan ran a hand through his hair. "Ugh. I'm going to go and get you some water. Stay right here."

Nodding weakly, Raven pressed her hands over her eyes. She winced as sudden pain shot down her spine, took a deep breath and got to her feet. A quick scan of the room revealed no objects that could be used as weapons, and the door was locked, of course. But perhaps she could surprise Furan somehow-

She began to cough, her entire body shaking. By the time Pietor returned, she was curled up in a ball on the floor. He sat down beside her, handing her a Styrofoam cup, which she gulped from gratefully.

"We don't want you dying on us." Furan said, as though justifying his actions to some invisible watcher. "Nero will not sacrifice you lightly- having you here is practically a guarantee that he'll behave."

She said nothing. The longer she stayed still and silent, the more her strength seemed to be returning. That was good. But she couldn't let Furan know. She hated acting weak, but if it was necessary…

_He took care of you when you were ill as a child._ she reminded herself. _Use that. Manipulate him. It will be difficult, but it can be accomplished. _

She leaned against his shoulder. Furan's glare deepened, and he moved away from her abruptly, nearly sending her back onto the cement.

"Aren't you going to torture me?" she asked, opening her eyes partially and looking up through her lashes. "I thought you enjoyed that sort of thing."

"Don't be stupid." Furan said dismissively.

"I thought I already was classified as "stupid" for a multitude of different crimes, such as falling in love, having actual empathy for other human beings, and stabbing out your eye."

Ooops.

Furan smiled slightly. "Glad to see you're feeling better."

**Hey, guys, remember that part last chapter when Raven was awesome and a ninja and stuff? **

**Remember that fondly. **

**Because I like to call this next part It's ALL Downhill From Here.**

**Please review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I apologize for the ending of this chapter. **

He could not stop thinking about her. The photograph of a happy family with small children placed lovingly on a desk, the fake name he used (which Raven had made up many years ago), Wing's fighting technique… even the fire truck reminded him of her for some reason.

After he was hit, he fell into a vague, disjointed dream of them running through an unknown city chased by faceless soldiers, running over rooftops hand in hand. When he woke, it accompanied by an inevitable groan of pain. He couldn't exactly remember being knocked out, but with a vague sense of triumph he recalled their successful assault on Drake Industries. Rubbing his forehead, he glanced around. He was in some sort of large building in the beginning stages of collapse, his back leaning against a wooden crate.

Otto jumped slightly when he saw him stir. "How are you feeling?" he said, standing up from his perch on another crate.

"Other than the mother of all headaches, fine." Nero said, gingerly touching the crease the drone's bullet had left in his forehead. Hopefully that wouldn't scar. "Where are we?"

"In a warehouse on the east side of the river." Otto told him. He felt relieved. They would probably be safe for the moment. "There's no way we could make it back to the safe house until you were on your feet again. Besides which, I wasn't sure it was still, well, safe."

"You did the right thing." Nero assured him. "And that was quick thinking on your part too, finding this place." He stood up slowly. "How long have I been out?"

"A couple of hours, I think." Wing said. He was looking out through the crack in the planks of a boarded-up window.

"I was just starting to get worried." Otto confessed. "I wasn't sure what we were going to do if you didn't wake up."

"Oh, I've survived considerably worse than this before, Mr. Malpense." he said with a pained smile. "Now, let's work out our next move. As we known the location of Drake's facility, it's important to mount our assault as soon as possi-"

"Sh!" Wing hissed suddenly, holding up one hand.

Nero strained to hear what had started the boy. He soon detected the sound of boots on concrete, quickly growing closer. He began to back away into the shadows, the students following him. They could handle a couple of men, but it wouldn't take much to overpower them…

He winced unintentionally as the door was kicked in with a crash, slowly counting in his head. Half a dozen. Perhaps they could take them.

Wing stepped out of the shadows, assuming a defensive stance, but the lead soldier lowered his weapon. Nero frowned, then smiled as the man removed his mask.

"There'll be no need for that, Mr. Fanchu." Colonel Francisco said with a cocky grin. "If we're going to stop Jason Drake, I'll need all my men in one piece."

###

With a cold smile, Furan surveyed his battered, bleeding prize. She was still staring up at him with a mixture of hatred and defiance, but there were tear tracks on her cheeks that told a different story.

He wasn't exactly sure what to do with her. She would know something was up if he didn't spend all his time beating her to a bloody pulp, but doing so might have a negative effect on her child. Part of him wished the Drake man would call on him to assist with some menial task just so she would stop staring at him.

He felt a strange tightening in his chest as she looked away from him, chewing on her lip. Ugh. Not this again. _Focus._ he told himself, crossing his arms.

"You aren't even defending yourself." he said, trying to force disgust and contempt into his voice. "Have you forgotten everything I taught you?"

"All you taught me was how it felt to be betrayed." Raven spat out. He opened his mouth to retort, but she bent over and began to cough, blood mixed with a strange dark substance splattering her fist and he faltered. What she really needed was a hospital, or at least a blanket around her shoulders.

_What is wrong with me?_ he demanded of himself. He had never felt this uncertain around Nat- Raven before. Gritting his teeth, he tried to continue. "Betrayed? I never betrayed you. You were a failure, Natalya. The events that took place afterwards were just inevitable consequences of that failure."

She just stared up at him blankly, eyes half-closed.

"Such a waste of potential." Furan said with a shake of his head. There. That was a good exit line. He turned swiftly and stalked from the room, resisting the urge to glance back over his shoulder at what once might have been magnificent.

###

Raven allowed herself to relax slightly as she heard the door shut behind the one man she truly feared. She wondered what was happening to the children at this moment. Furan had proved many times that he wasn't above torturing kids, and she doubted that any of them would withstand watching their friends in pain for very long.

And what about Nero? His bravado didn't fool her- he wasn't in great shape for an operation right now, especially with the emotional instability she was creating. For the first time, she wondered if maybe Nero had been right. Maybe she should have ended the pregnancy, forgotten her feelings and continued on with their lives as they had been before. Although it probably wouldn't have magically caused Drake to remain loyal to G.L.O.V.E., at least they would be in shape to fight him.

_Max will be fine._ she told herself. _It's you and Little One you need to be worried about. _Furan could kill her in an instant, but he didn't seem interested. He probably wanted Little One, for his own sick purposes. She shuddered at the thought, than shifted position as a sudden pain shot through her.

Selfishly, she wanted him here with her, if only to give her one of his brisk hugs and silently reassure her that everything would be okay. She felt so uncertain all of the sudden.

_Hurry, Max._ she thought.

###

He thought he took the news that Raven had been taken by Drake's forces and _Furan_ of all the people fairly well.

"You should really break this habit." Pike said, surveying him as he bandaged his knuckles.

"I can't help it." Nero said. He bit his lip. "Are you sure it was her blood?"

_What if they decided that it she couldn't fight she was worthless and just killed her? That sounds like something Pietor Furan would do…_

"The security camera footage from the safe-house showed that she hit her head, Max. Head wounds bleed a lot. She's probably fine." Pike reassured.

Nero stared at his friend for a long moment, trying to determine whether or not to reveal the whole story. _Oh, for crying out loud._ he thought furiously a split second later. _If I can't trust Theodore, I can't trust anyone._ "Do you know about…?"

"Of course I do!" Pike said with a grin.

Nero frowned. "How?"

"Diabolus told everybody at the… Christmas party, I think. Some kind of social event. I wasn't really paying much attention, but Tabitha filled me in later."

Nero sighed. "Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag now, then. The entire staff knows?"

"Yes, but some of us knew before. Frankly, it was sort of obvious." Pike confessed.

"She was showing even back then?" Nero said with a frown. Raven hadn't even spent any time around Pike- they had dropped her off before they had gone back to the school.

"It's always shown." Pike said with a smile. "What with the way she looks at you, and all…"

Nero frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"She's in love with you!" Pike said, beaming.

Nero bit his lip. He had extensively covered how he felt about his associate (not that it made any sense even now) but he could never remember Raven ever saying anything in return. "No, she's not." he said. "But she is five months pregnant and that has me very worried."

"Oh!" Pike said with a delighted smile. "That I did not know."

"It's not a good thing." Nero said with a frown.

"You may not think so now," Pike said, turning away from him, "but in a few months you'll see."

Nero grunted noncommittally. "I assume you didn't come all the way out here for no reason?" he added a second later.

"As much as I enjoy watching you punch walls…" The Professor said, handing Nero what looked like a blueprint of what appeared to be a satellite. "I believe this is how Mr. Drake has been tracking you."

"What is it?" Nero asked, holding the blueprint up.

"Projected Overwatch, a military black-budget contract that Drake Industries was working on. I have some old friends in the R&D department at the Pentagon and they were kind enough to furnish me with these drawings. Judging by its specifications, it is designed to render the concept of a ground-based manhunt obsolete. If you can see the sky, then you can be identified- and tracked. Quite impressive actually-"

"Was there anything else your friend was able to tell you?" Nero cut in, pushing the blueprints back into Pike's hand.

"Apparently it was launched with another satellite unrelated to Drake Industries. The only thing my friend could find out was the name of the project- Thor's Hammer."

_That's not ominous at all_. Nero thought.

"The two were designed to work together somehow," Pike said with a shrug, "but beyond that he could tell me nothing."

"Thank you, Professor." Nero said with a sigh. "At least this sheds some light on how he found her so quickly… could he have tracked us here as well?"

"It's possible," the Professor replied. "I would suggest that we relocate sooner rather than later."

"Agreed." Nero said. He raised his voice. "Colonel?"

"Yes, sir?" Francisco said. He, a couple of his men and the children were in the corner sharing a pizza. Nero noticed Wing tucking a few slices wrapped in wax paper into the pocket of his coat, perhaps to give to Trinity when she returned to them.

"Get everyone onto the Shrouds." Nero ordered. "I'll brief you on the next mission once we're airborne."

###

Eventually, she was able to fall into a deep, dreamless sleep. Her hormones were really screwing with her if she could drift off in a concrete room, the floor still stained with her own blood. She woke up as Little One kicked particularly hard, connecting with one bruised rib.

"Hey there." Raven mumbled in Russian, shifting position. How long had she been out? She had dropped off in a sitting position, and now she was ridiculously stiff.

Little One responded with another blow.

"Ow." Raven snapped, giving him a poke. "I feed you and I house you and this is what I get? Little bugger."

Her head had cleared, at least. She got to her feet and did a quick circle around the room. The door was sealed, locked from the outside, and there was nothing she could use as a weapon. It looked like she was stuck here, at least for the moment.

She nearly had to sit down again as her muscles suddenly cramped. Instead she leaned against the wall as the cell door began to open. She tensed, expecting Furan, but instead three guards entered the room, assault rifles raised and trained on her.

"He didn't say she was-" said the one on the left, staring at Little One.

"Shut up." said the middle one, but he looked unsettled. Raven wanted to smile at him, just to wig him out a little more, but knew she had to use his uneasiness to her advantage.

"Please." Raven said, staring up at him. In her head, she was plotting her assault. She wrapped her arms around her stomach.

"Hands above your head." snapped the middle one.

Ignoring the pain from her injuries, she moved forward, knocking the feet out from beneath him. The other two immediately fired, but she jerked their comrade up to his feet to take the bullets for her just as the one man she trusted most had done. He jerked in death, blood trickling down his chin and she used the seconds of shock the other two shared to snatch his gun away from him and put a bullet between the right one's eyes.

The left one began backing up. She quickly trained the gun on him. "Don't move." she said, walking towards him. He went for his gun, but she kicked him in the jaw and it fell from his hands as he let out a yell of pain and fear.

"Now you're going to tell me where I can find Furan." she said softly. "Or I'm going to get angry."

###

Furan was standing outside Drake's office, waiting for the man to stop yammering to what was most likely his sister, trying to push down his irritation. Meeting with his boss feeling like this would only lead to a shouting match, and that he definitely didn't want. Just as he was getting it under control, the door opened.

"You wanted to see me?" Furan said.

"Yes," Drake said, gesturing for Furan to come and join him at the window overlooking the hangar. Furan came to stand beside him with his arms crossed. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to be awed- it wasn't his plan, after all. He was only here because a) money was nice and b) he needed something to do. "I have spoken to the other Disciples and they have ordered the executions of all prisoners, including Raven. They believe that she is too dangerous to remain in our custody alive and I must say I agree. I know you had hoped to turn her-"

"You gave the order for her execution?" Furan said angrily.

"Yes, over ten minutes ago." Drake said calmly, turning back to his desk.

"And how many men did you send?" Furan asked with a frown.

"More than enough." Drake said, rolling his eyes.

Furan clenched one hand. "How _many_?"

"Three." Drake replied.

"They're already dead." Furan said grimly. "Get on board the Dreadnought and launch now while we still can."

"I believe you're overestimating her abilities." Drake said coldly. "She's injured, exhausted and five months pregnant-"

"She's angry, and that negates all three." Furan said as the base alarm Klaxon began to sound. "We leave now."

###

As she charged through the halls of where-the-hell-she-was, she was suddenly ambushed by a fierce craving for Cheerios. She stopped to catch her breath, leaning against the wall and gently running a hand over her stomach. She could taste the cereal in her mouth…

"Are you all right?" said a voice and she felt a hand on her shoulder.

_Act normal._ she told herself fiercely, resisting the urge to murder whoever it was. _You're wearing civilian clothes, you can pull it off. _She jabbed one hand into the wound in her thigh and this time allowed the tears to come to her eyes. "It hurts." she whimpered, turning around.

The man was tall, gangly. Tousled blond hair and soft brown eyes. He looked vaguely familiar, but that didn't matter. Maybe she had killed his family once- a brother, mother, father, cousin. It didn't matter.

Immediately he drew her in for a hug. "We should get you to the infirmary." he said, an edge of panic coloring his voice. He must be a normal, then, if he showed his emotions like that.

"I think my baby's coming." Raven said in voice full of fear and pain.

_No!_ hissed a voice in her head. _What are you doing? Furan's going to get away!_

_I can't go after Furan now. I'm not strong enough. _she argued. _I need to get out of here and find Max, and this guy might be the key to that._

"Shit." breathed the man. His cheeks went pink. He was American, but there was a trace of another accent that her rattled mind couldn't place just this second. "Sorry! Um…"

One second she was standing beside him, the next she was being lifted off the ground and into his arms, bridal style. "Ooof." the man grunted, hefting her a little higher. To her chagrin, Raven let out an unintentional squeak as a fierce pain filled her middle before collapsing against him.

Raven hadn't even thought about the actual birth before now- that was firmly sealed off with caution tape in a corner of her mind that she did not venture into. Now she tried to recall some movie scene or _something_ so she could try to act this out convincingly. She jammed her fingers into her thigh again and this time let out a horror-movie scream, grabbing onto the man with both hands.

"Whoa there." he said, nearly dropping her. He started walking in the opposite direction of Furan's office. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah…" she whispered. She rested his forehead against his t-shirt. It was green, and smelled nice. Soft. Like soap. "My name is Emma, by the way. Emma Day."

"Silas." the man responded. "Is talking okay? I mean…"

"Yes." Raven murmured. "It's fine…"

"Okay." Silas said. "Then what are you doing here?"

"My husband…" Raven whispered. "I came here to bring him his lunch but…" She forced the tears to come back. "They told me he died. And then they locked me up, and…"

"I'm so sorry." Silas said gently, rubbing her back. She nodded slowly, closing her eyes.

"Please don't take me to the infirmary." Raven added. "I don't…"

"Of course I won't." Silas said. "I… we're a _long_ way from a hospital, though."

"I don't care." Raven whispered. "Just get me out of here, _please._"

"Okay." Silas said quietly. "Okay."

###

"I think we've got something here!" Professor Pike called.

Nero and Francisco rushed over to the Professor. He pointed at the screen on his laptop, which was displaying a live satellite feed. A thin white line was widening into a rectangle in the middle of the dessert floor. As more light flooded out of the illuminated hole, the distinctive outline of the Dreadnought slowly became visible.

"Have we heard anything from Otto or Wing yet?" Nero asked. The colonel shook his head. Nero sighed, rubbing his head. "Very well. Colonel, prepare your men for the drop."

"Yes, sir." the Colonel replied.

"And I'm coming too." Nero said quickly. "Natalya must be down there somewhere-"

She could be dead. Drake could have already decided that she was no longer useful and put a bullet between her perfect eyes. Or maybe she'd gone into labor and bled to death as Furan watched and laughed-

_Stop thinking like that._ Nero thought furiously. _I will find her, and she _will_ be okay._

###

It was nice with her face pressed to Silas's shirt, comforting. She only came out when she heard footsteps.

Trinity, Brand, Dexter and Argenblum were standing in a little cluster, looking confused. Quickly, she slid from Silas's arms, aiming the pistol she'd taken from one of the fallen men at his head.

"It's nice to see a friendly face." Dexter ventured nervously. "Any idea how we get out of here?"

"Other than the way we came in…" Raven said with a shrug. "And I doubt that's going to be an option. We still have to track down Diabolus and Nigel first, though."

"They have been taken to the Dreadnought." Argentblum said quickly. "Nigel was locked up with me but then they took him away. I heard one of the guards saying that were taking him to the ship. Nigel told me they had already used him to make his father do things that he was not wanting to. I am thinking that they will be doing the same thing now, ja?"

"Ja." Silas mumbled, then wilted under Raven's fierce glace.

"This is Furan." said a voice from over the speakers mounted in the hallway ceiling. Raven felt her whole body tense at the sound of his voice. "We have a facility breach. All security teams report of the Dreadnought hangar immediately."

"Sounds like someone else is breaking out." Brand mused.

"Or perhaps breaking in," Raven said with a slight smile. She turned to Silas. "Sorry I lied, by the way."

"It's okay." Silas said, hands raised in surrender. His face seemed to be frozen in a look of surprise. "Can I go now?"

"No." Raven said coldly. "I need you to tell me where the hangar is first."

###

Nero let out a growl of frustration as the Dreadnought began to rise into the air just as the last of Drake's men fell. The H.I.V.E. soldiers had managed to reach the end of the boarding ramp, but couldn't get though quick enough. There was nothing they could do now to stop the massive vessel from launching-

"Max!"

The familiar cry was interrupted halfway through with a burst of hysterical laughter as she ran towards him. Nero forgot about Drake's escape, forgot his other captured friend and just stood there grinning like an idiot as she came to stand in front of him, breathing hard.

Behind her Brand, Trinity, Dexter and Argentblum were standing in the doorway looking just as tired and beat-up as Raven was, but that didn't matter, nothing mattered-

"Facility self-destruct sequence initiated. Time to detonation: five minutes and counting."

Alright, that mattered just a little bit.

"Get both the Shrouds down here now." Nero ordered into the coms. "We have five minutes until the place destroys itself, and we need to evacuate our people as well as the Dreadnought's original crew…"

They could lose the Dreadnought then, if they did not immediately pursue it. Nero felt frustration build inside him, but quickly pushed it down. Raven was safe. His son was safe. Besides, it was likely Drake would reveal himself with the storm camouflage sooner rather than later.

"Are you injured?" Nero demanded, putting one hand protectively on Raven's shoulder as they began racing towards Drake's recently abandoned office, Laura in the lead.

"No." Raven said, reaching out to take his hand. For some reason, he didn't mind. Then she stopped dead in her tracks. "Oh _god._"

"Natalya?" Nero demanded. The two of them stood frozen as the others rushed past into the office. "Natalya!"

"Karma is a bitch." Raven mumbled as she sat down hard on the ground.

"I can't do anything if you don't tell me what's wrong!" Nero yelled in frustration, terror clawing at his insides.

"Shit, Max, I'm in labor." Raven hissed. "Shit. I… I think I've been for a while… _shit._"

"We've gotta get you to a hospital." Nero whispered, feeling like the floor had just dropped out from under him.

"THERE IS A ONE-MEGATON BOMB DETONATING IN TWO MINUTES AND WE CAN'T STOP IT!" Francisco bellowed, poking his head out of the office doorway.

"I'm sort of busy right now!" Nero yelled back as Raven let out a moan. He rubbed Raven's shoulder. "Breathe. Aren't you supposed to do something with breathing?"

"I don't know." Raven whimpered, her eyes wide with panic. "I can't- I'm not ready- Oh, you were right Max, I can't do this, I can't!"

"Close your eyes and don't think about it." Nero invented. "Just… just…"

_What did Francisco say? Something about a bomb? How are we going to move Raven if she's like _this_?_

"GO!" he heard Laura bellow from the office, and seconds later the others were sprinting past him. Raven opened her eyes in shock as Nero picked her up. She caught movement over Nero's shoulder as one of the men lying by the board ramp stirred, aiming his gun at Nero's back.

"Max!" she choked out just before the man fired. Nero turned just in time to see the man fire.

_Save her._ was the last thought he had before the bullet pierced his back.

###

She hit the ground hard, knocking the wind from her body. Raven barely had time to move backwards before Nero's body hit the ground beside her.

"No." she whispered. Everything had gone suddenly, sickeningly silent.

_It's because you're dreaming._ she told herself as her shaking hand raised the gun to her head, finger caressing the trigger. _All I have to do is wake up…_


	9. Chapter 9

**Haha, yeah, that was a little cruel of me. Especially since this chapter is late…**

**I REGRET NOTHING.**

"_Miss!"_ screamed a familiar voice from behind her. Her hand twitched and the gun fired, the bullet coming close enough to send a few dark strands of hair fluttering to the ground. The noise of the shot was muffled, but the voice was all around her, surrounding her, caging her-

"_Run!"_ it said, and she found herself on her feet despite seconds ago not having the strength to stand. She stared desperately over her shoulder. _We can't just leave him!_ To her relief, just as she began to struggle against her orders one of Francisco's soldiers bent down and picked Nero up, before quickly dashing after her and the others.

Sound and color were beginning to return to the world around her, and whatever miniscule portion of her brain that wasn't focused on the immense pain flooding her was instead repeating one single, cruel sentence over and over again.

_What a waste of a bullet._

_It's happening again, _she realized. _This is just like before. How could I allow the same story to repeat?_

No, the real question was why other people kept saving her.

###

The second her feet touched the loading ramp of the Shroud, the voice hissed _"Stop!_" and her legs collapsed beneath her. Seconds later, Dexter was at her side babbling apologies. She gently brushed them off, careful to keep her face blank. Ignoring the twenty or so people who were attempting to ask if she was "all right", she pushed through the group of soldiers until she had found a quiet corner where no one was going to bother her. She stole a quick glance up at the faces around her- they looked worried, upset, and fearful. Well, if they were expecting some terrifying rage-beast, they were going to be disappointed.

This time there were no tears, no wild attacks on whoever was nearby. This time, she was just numb. The wild, grief-stricken girl who had once shared her name was dead and had been for a very long time. It did surprise her, though, that she had been buried so thoroughly. She had expected a relapse, considering her current condition and situation.

Already, suicide was becoming less and less of an option as each passing second proved more and more that she could survive without the man in the suit. She chastised herself for allowing such a strong reaction. She knew how to keep a poker face-

But Nero was dead.

Nero was _dead._ He was gone. Forever. She shivered, her eyes fluttering shut. This entire scenario had always been neck and neck with Anastasia's inexplicable revival on her list of fears. Unfortunately, it had never quite extended to what exactly she was supposed to _do_ should such a tragedy take place.

She took a long, slow, breath, than another and another. _Disassociate._ _You know how to do this, remember?_

She had not realized she was in love with Nero until very recently, just before Malpense had arrived at the school in fact. It was a stupid thing- they were at a G.L.O.V.E. meeting just as mind-numbing as every one before it, and afterwards they stopped to get coffee and doughnuts to pass the time until the Shroud arrived to carry them back home. They were sitting together at a table outside, when Nero's foot brushed hers under the table and she nearly threw up. Butterflies, hah. These were at _least _ostriches.

She remembered immediately assuming food poisoning and telling him so, but as hours passed and nothing more became of it (and she suddenly found herself unable to look her employer in the eye without a fierce mental struggle) she realized that her pesky emotions had decided to get in the way once again.

Of course, she never planned to _act_. She figured maybe she would have some nice fantasies, spend a couple of awkward months avoiding him as much as possible until she got herself firmly under control, and then move on. Unfortunately, all it took was a small room at a bed-and-breakfast and one too many glasses of wine for her mind to take a nose dive into the gutter, and now…

"We're here." she whispered under her breath. _See,_ she told herself firmly, _this is why you can't have nice things. Because all you know how to do was destroy._

_It was nice for a while, though, _she mused. She set one hand on her thigh and realized that she was shaking violently. And also bleeding. She really ought to tell someone about Little One, but-

"Raven?"

She wasn't even sure why she looked up- if it was someone she actually cared about, they would have said Natalya. But following orders had been engrained into her mind just as deeply as_ don't cry in front of others,_ so she glanced up.

The Professor smiled weakly down at her, and she quickly rearranged her features to conceal her grief. "Yes?" she asked crisply, getting to her feet.

"We're going after the Dreadnought, but right after that's all resolved we'll get Dr. Nero to the nearest hospital as soon as we can." he assured her.

Her heart snapped in two and hit the floor, shattering into a million icy pieces. On the outside, she frowned. "Is there any point to that? Unless there are other injured men-"

"Of course there's a point!" Pike said. "We've done the best we can, but we're hardly equipped for what he needs?"

"A mausoleum?" Raven asked bitterly. She clenched one fist as another contraction hit her.

Pike's eyebrows shot up. It really was an enviable skill, being so _expressive._ "He's not dead, Raven."

He was lying. He had seen her with the gun and he was lying so he could trap her in some sort of cage. He had to be manipulating her somehow- miracles did not happen and dead men did not come back to life if there was a body right in front of you and you had seen with your own eyes as he'd twitched and gone still…

Instead she said "Where is he?"

Pike pointed, and she took off.

He was resting on one of the seats, pale and bloodstained and lost in the darkness, but breathing. She let out a breath she hadn't known was inside her that metamorphosed into a sob halfway through. Her shoulders shook once, then she quickly took control, turning to Pike, who was hovering behind her. "Get me a medical kit, I'm sure there's something I can do to help."

"The bleeding's slowing." said the man crouched beside Nero and putting pressure on his chest, and she realized with a shock that it was Silas. In a heartbeat, her hands were around his throat.

"Hey!" Silas gasped. "I'm not… the… enemy…"

She eyed him with a frozen stare, unable to shake the nagging sense that she had seen him before.

"I… don't even… know who… you people are…" Silas pleaded, one hand clawing weakly at hers.

Several of the men nearby had been watching the spectacle and now had their weapons trained on his head, so she released Silas. "Don't move." she told him, putting herself between him and Max. "If you don't know who we are, why did you stow away?"

"The facility was self-destructing!" Silas protested. "What was I supposed to do, stay there and die?"

She glanced around. "What do you say, boys? Should we keep him?"

"He might be useful." Fransisco grunted. He smirked. "He looks weak, anyway. Should be easy to get information out of him."

"Information?" Silas whimpered. "Boy, do I have information. Piles and piles-"

Raven kicked him in the crotch. As Silas collapsed into a moaning ball, she ordered "Find something we can use as restraints and put a guard on him. Don't let him anywhere near the cockpit or the storage area."

The small crowd that had gathered began to disperse, and Raven glanced down at Silas. "Don't think I'll hesitate if you so much as think about causing trouble." she said with a cold smile.

Silas attempted a smile, but it came out more like a grimace. "You seem like my kind of girl." he whispered, and received another kick for his troubles.

###

He scrunched his eyes shut as the sunlight seeping in through the window, desperate for just five more minutes…. then relaxed as he remembered where he was- and who he was with.

Nero shifted position slightly so he could check on his wife. Raven seemed to be asleep, but she knew she always lay there to keep from waking up out of some remaining sense of duty from before he had retired. He put a hand on one pale, bare shoulder, and she stirred, turning to give him a gentle smile.

"Hey." Nero said, cupping her chin.

"Good morning." Raven said softly, her hand finding his under the sheets. She leaned over to give him a swift, chaste kiss before she slid out of bed, opening the top dresser drawer with one swift movement.

"That's all I get?" Nero grumbled good-naturedly, sitting up.

"Oh, hush." Raven said, a smile tugging at her lips.

"Fine." Nero yawned. "Do I at least get breakfast?"

"Of course." She pulled a t-shirt over her head before throwing open the curtains. Nero grunted, pressing a pillow to his face.

"Momma?" a small voice asked from the doorway.

"I'm awake." Raven called.

A pale hand curled around the door, then it opened to reveal a small boy in faded blue pajamas patterned with small cartoon trains. He hesitated for a second, then ran forward, scrambled up onto the bed and threw himself at Nero. Nero caught him with an 'oof', ruffling the boy's hair.

"Hi, daddy." he said shyly.

"Hey, bear." Nero said with a smile. "Did you sleep well?"

"You didn't." the boy said, looking thoughtfully up at him.

"How do you know that?" Nero asked.

"When I have nightmares, I call out for Mum, too." the boy said.

Nero and Raven exchanged an amused look. "Yes, that's right." Nero said. "It's a good thing we have her, isn't it?"

The boy nodded seriously. "Are you making pancakes, Mum?"

Raven sighed. "I suppose I could…"

"Blueberry ones." Nero said. Raven shot him a look, and he stared down at their son's head. "… it would be nice… if you could…"

Raven smirked and started towards the door. Nero pulled the boy onto his lap. "Hey… bear?"

"Yes?" the boy asked.

"Would you like a little brother or sister…?" Nero frowned. All of the sudden, it occurred to him that he could not remember his son's name. And retiring? Like that would ever happen. He wouldn't exactly call himself a control freak, but he definitely hadn't found someone to take over H.I.V.E. for him yet. Perhaps Malpense, when he was older.

He closed his eyes and tried to think. Where were they? Even if he did eventually leave H.I.V.E. to live with Raven and their son, it would be in a G.L.O.V.E. facility to ensure their safety. And this seemed nothing like anything-

The little bedroom began growing darker, and he glanced down to see that the little boy was gone. He opened his mouth to say something, but what came out was a soft grunt.

He heard rustling just as the other world faded to black, and opened his eyes a second time to find himself staring up at a ceiling tiled in beige. The smell of the place already told him that it was a hospital, but how on earth had he ended up in it? And what was the pain in his chest about? _And where was Natalya?_

"Max!"

Darkdoom set his newspaper down on his lap and stood up, a broad smile on his face. Nero smiled back. "You missed quite a lot." his friend told him.

"Given that we're all still alive and not cowering in fear, I suppose Drake is no longer a threat?" Nero asked, trying to adjust his pillows but causing himself to double over, coughing, instead.

"Yes. Pietor Furan killed him, actually." Darkdoom said with a shrug. "We're still trying to piece together what exactly happened, but Otto and Wing somehow managed to prevent him from carrying out his plan."

Nero nodded, impressed. "And they're both all right?"

"Cuts and bruises, nothing major. Otto seemed… rattled, however."

"Probably just stress." Nero dismissed quickly. Darkdoom had many wonderful qualities, yet sometimes he wondered how exactly someone who could never fully keep their trap shut had lasted so long in their world. "How long exactly has it been?"

"Two days." Darkdoom said. "You were in surgery for a while and…" He reached into his pocket. "Actually, Natalya did order me to call her when she woke up… I should do that."

"Yes." Nero said firmly. Suddenly, it all came rushing back. "Oh, god- is she all right?"

"We managed to make it to the hospital in time." Darkdoom assured him. "Both she and the baby are perfectly all right, if shaken. The doctors tried to put her on bed rest, but that didn't go over very well. Ever since we got back, she's spent most of her time sitting outside your door intimidating anyone who dared come in glaring distance."

Nero laughed. "I'm glad we managed to pull through." he said. "How long do the doctors-"

The door slid open, and Raven stepped into the room. When she saw him, the tension in her shoulders and face evaporated, and she came and sat down on the side of the bed.

"_Come here right now?_" she said to Darkdoom. "You should probably be more specific…" She trailed off as her eyes met his.

"Hello, my dear." Nero said softly, reaching out to take her hand.

She smiled, a bright, genuine expression he didn't think possible of her. "Glad to see you're feeling well. I thought you were done for this time."

"You're still pregnant?" he asked, glancing down at her middle.

"Of course I am. He's not ready to come out into the real world yet. They gave me some drugs, and that shut down the labor. No harm done."

Her face seemed to be inching closer and closer to his, and he could see every detail of her perfect face-

Darkdoom let out a disgruntled noise as he stood up. "I'll let the hospital staff know they have to disinfect in here." he muttered as he left.

Nero started to laugh, but Raven put a hand on his shoulder. "You shouldn't… you should…"

"Natalya?" he asked gently.

She ran a hand through her hair distractedly. "I've changed my mind. _Please_ use me as a shield. I can't… I..." Raven let out a shaky laugh. "I sure have a way with words, huh?"

He stroked the back of her hand gently, and for a moment they were quiet. Then Raven said "They couldn't find any trace of the black stuff when they tested for it. No irregularities whatsoever."

"How peculiar." Nero said with a frown. Then he shook his head. "Wait. Stop. We aren't going to talk about work right now. That's how we got into this mess in the first place, remember?"

"We?" Raven mused quietly.

"I'll admit I was about seventy percent of the problem."

"Seventy _five._"

"Cruel."

"But honest." She ran one hand over her stomach. "Fine. Where are we going to keep it?"

""It'?"

Her mouth tightened. "I mean him."

Nero sighed. "I do that all the time."

Raven laughed, shifting so she was sitting beside him. "We really weren't meant for this, were we?"

"I thought I was, once." Nero said a shrug. "Before everything got… messy."

She rested her head on his shoulder. "I'm starting to think that you're were right, you know."

"About… what?" Nero asked.

"About малютка." Raven said. "I'm threatening the safety of you and everyone around me, not to mention what his life would be like should he actually make it out into the world alive."

It took him a moment to figure out what to say to her. "I agree." he said gravely. "But part of me wants to keep him, despite it being, for lack of a better word, selfish."

"That's one thing we can't afford to be." Raven murmured, staring up at the ceiling.

He watched her. "Natalya…?"

"Hm?"

"I really don't know what to do." he confessed.

"I do." Raven said. "What you said about your life being messy, it reminded me that while I might have been born with the best of intentions, but outside forces led to me becoming… well, who I am. I would be devastated if I had to watch that happen to my child."

"I think we'd both be long dead before anything of the sort happened." Nero mused.

Her mouth pinched together. "And even if he was safe, how many more years have you got, Max? And what about me? How long can I keep running around in a jumpsuit? Neither of us have much time."

She was warm beside him, the fabric of her t-shirt soft against his skin. He squeezed her hand and gave her another quick kiss. "I know, Natalya. I've spent hours thinking about this. Unfortunately, I'm just as lost as you are."

"Damn it." Raven mumbled, her eyes closing.

"Are you all right?" he asked sharply, all the panic from Drake's base rising inside him.

In response, she simply yawned.

He gave her another kiss, this one landing on the tip of her nose because she darted away at the last second. "We don't have to figure it out exactly this second, of course."

"'S good." Raven slipped beneath the covers. "I find I make some pretty shitty decisions at two AM."

He tapped the button on his bedside table to turn out the lights and tried to get comfortable. This was a complicated task, as simply moving at all sent pain radiating all through his chest. He would have to speak to the hospital staff about upping his dosage of painkillers tomorrow.

Nero was just closing his eyes when Raven mumbled "Max?"

"Yes?"

"First you said you didn't care about me, then you said you did-"

"And you sassed me."

"It was necessitated sass." Raven shot back. Nero laughed a little, and she sighed. "Anyway, which is it?"

"Is this still about the sass?"

"No, about me." she said, a bit exasperated.

He was silent.

"I'm not asking for love. You don't have to say anything you don't want to. But what I do need is some sort of explanation of what's been going through your mind." Raven continued briskly.

He bit his lip, glad she couldn't see his utterly mystified expression in the darkened room.

"Can I _trust_ you?" Raven pressed. "I mean, can I trust that you'll make the right decision if I'm… incapacitated?"

She sounded a little more nervous than usual. "Is something wrong?"

"Like I said, we probably shouldn't be having such an important discussion at this time of day." Raven said. "But yes, I'm not doing very well and it's probably going to get worse."

"I don't know what that means." he snapped. So his worst fears had been confirmed. He could wrap Natalya up in bubble wrap, give her the best protection on the planet but if their son was killing her from the inside out then there was nothing he could do.

"If I give birth in a hospital, I'll most likely be okay." Raven mumbled. "But if it happens anywhere else, my chance of survival is not high."

"Why?" he demanded. The question was more for the universe in general than for her.

He heard the sheets rustle as she stood up, and watched as her shadow pulled her shirt up over her head. "Just… oh, you can't see, can you?" She reached out and grabbed his hand, guiding it to over her stomach. She shivered when his cool fingertips touched his pale skin.

He could feel a raised line beneath his fingers, seeming to arch around her entire body. "Is that a scar?"

"It was an emergency; I needed surgery; Pietor gave it to me." Raven said softly. _Pietor, not Furan_, he noted. "I think I mentioned it before, in the safe house. It messed up… well, a lot of things, but it did save my life."

"That's not exactly what I meant." Nero said, but the anger had gone out of him. He was exploring, now, and quickly found that there were other scars, most so faded that they had to come from childhood.

_Somebody did this to you. Somebody deemed your life to be less than worthless. And you still got up and fought back, over and over again…_

"Is this from the Glasshouse?" he asked quietly.

"That's mostly on my back." she replied, shifting around so he could touch there too. It was even more scarred then her chest. He wondered what it must look like, in the light.

"You must have been a very bad girl." he whispered.

"More like inadequate." Raven said, squirming slightly. He could tell she was a little uncomfortable but knew if it was really a problem, she would stop him. "Mostly in the classroom- I couldn't read or write in Russian when I first arrived."

"Really?"

"I left home before I started school." she said. He could tell from her voice that she was lost, far away. "Thankfully I picked up languages pretty easily, after I got over the initial stubbornness."

"I can see you doing that." Nero whispered, and she laughed.

"I bet you were always a perfect student." she said mischievously. "You probably stayed inside at recess to practice your Latin instead of your football skills."

"And you were the sort of girl who was always running around with a whole mess of boys and could make the best gun noises in the entire school." he teased.

She was silent for a second, and he knew he had done something wrong. "Just two, actually." she whispered a moment later. "And who needs to imitate guns when they give you the real thing to fire at each other?"

Nero sighed. "I'm sorry. I know you don't like to talk about it-"

"I should be over this by now." she said in frustration. "I never think about any of my other kills, even the children. But sometimes I'll just close my eyes, and it'll all be there, laid out nicely like a twisted picture book."

"You don't have to forget-"

"I _want _to." Raven interrupted, desperation coloring her voice.

"Are you sure?" he asked gently. He leaned forward, brushing the hair off one of her shoulders and kissing it.

"What are you doing?" Raven asked.

"Cheering you up."

"What happened to not doing anything?" Raven whispered as his lips moved along her jaw.

"You're just so damn cute." Nero murmured, reaching forward to cup her breasts.

Raven sighed, peeling his hands off. "I know, but we need to sleep…"

"Okay." Nero said with a sigh. "I guess if we did rip my stitches open, explaining _how _to the doctors would be quite fun."

Raven snorted, pulling her shirt back on. "Good night, Max." she whispered.

"Good night." he said. As she lay back down, he pulled her to his chest, resting his head on the top of hers. "Natalya?"

"Yes?" she mumbled.

"I do care." he whispered in her ear. "I care too much."

He couldn't see it in the dark, but he was sure she was smiling.


End file.
